Book Review: The Fall of the Priests and the Rise of the Lawyers

Abstract

A book review of Philip R Wood, "The Fall Of The Priests And The Rise Of The Lawyers, (Hart, 2016) Philip Wood CBE, QC (Hon) is Special Global Counsel at Allen & Overy in London. He leads that firm’s Global Law Intelligence Unit which is “an executive team expert in comparative law” He holds a BA from the University of Cape Town, an MA from Hertford College, Oxford University and an honorary LLD from Lund University, Sweden. He was appointed honorary Queen’s Counsel in 2010 and has written many books on international finance law and practice. In this book Wood calls on readers to think very broadly about the law and much more. Within its 273 pages, the author seeks to survey all of the major world religions and the world’s major legal systems. He argues that religion is in decline and that “the law can step into the gap left by fading religions” and that “the law can carry forward the flame.” If you agree with Wood’s hypothesis – that religion is headed for the scrapheap of history around the world but that the “law is the one universal secular religion which practically everyone believes in,” that the law is “a great ethical system” and that the “law is a highly sophisticated moral system” which can readily take the place of religion – you might really enjoy this book. If you don’t come to the book with those preconceptions then this book is unlikely to convince you.

Keywords: religion, law, priests, lawyers, ethics

JEL Classification: Z12, Z18