Considered the best pedagogical tool on the market, this highly readable and comprehensive text offers a balanced, current and comprehensive overview of the legal system and administrative, criminal and civil law in a cross-cultural context. The book considers the most recent theories and research findings, and emphasizes developing and emerging trends. It focuses on the evolution of modern legal systems, current intellectual movements in law, interplay between law and social change and the main concerns and issues in the profession and practice of law. This is the only book that considers multicultural and cross-cultural issues in a contemporary context with an interdisciplinary emphasis.