Consequences: The Impact of Law and Its Complexity

H. Graham Rawlinson is a corporate lawyer with the international law
firm Torys in Toronto. He is co-author of The Canadian 100: The 100 Most
Influential Canadians of the 20th Century.

This thoughtful monograph considers the consequences for Western
civilization of its increasing focus on the law as a method of solving
its problems. Focusing primarily on the United States, it concludes that
the results of turning to the law have been only partly successful: the
triumph of liberalism in American courts and the attendant protection of
the rights of various minorities have been offset, in Bogart’s view,
by inefficient and ineffective litigation and the politicization of
legal institutions. Though the writing is nuanced and attuned to the
philosophy-of-law canon, Bogart nevertheless lets the evidence lead his
conclusions, and the result is a comprehensive and useful survey of the
meaning of the law in the Western world.