How to Do Things with Rules

Citation

Twining, W., & Miers, D. (2010). How to Do Things with Rules (5th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Chapter Summary

The fifth edition is arranged in four parts: a long opening chapter, a group of chapters on rules in general, a group on reading legislation and cases, and a closing set of questions and exercises. Four appendices follow the index. The publisher describes the book as an account of the "who, what, why and how" of interpretation that begins from the interpreter's standpoint and context.

Chapter 1: Some food for thought

Part I consists of this single chapter, at about sixty pages the longest in the book. It is the entry point to the whole method, preparing the reader for the analysis of rules that follows.

Chapter 2: Problems and mischiefs

A short chapter of about ten pages that opens Part II, "Reading, using and interpreting rules in general". Its title points to the problems and mischiefs that rules are meant to address.

Chapter 3: Of rules in general

The publisher's chapter abstract says it examines the concept of a rule and its relation to principles, policies and values. It then looks at the form and structure of rules, the difference between general exceptions and exemptions in particular cases, the variety of rules, and the relations between rules within one system, between different systems and between systems and external factors. It ends by introducing general theories about the functions of rules.

Chapters 4–5: Interpretation and application; Imperfect rules

These two chapters complete Part II. Chapter 4 concerns how a rule is interpreted and then applied to a situation; Chapter 5 deals with imperfect rules. Together with the publisher's emphasis on factors that give rise to doubt, the sequence moves from what a rule is to why applying it can be uncertain.

Chapters 6–8: Routine and problematic readings; Legislation; Interpreting legislation

Part III, "Reading law: reading, using and interpreting legislation and cases", begins by separating routine readings of a rule from problematic ones. Chapter 7 then deals with legislation itself, and Chapter 8 with its interpretation. The publisher notes that the edition is updated on developments in the legislative process and the judicial interpretation of statutes.

Chapters 9–10: Reading cases; The European dimension

Chapter 9 is the case-law counterpart of the legislation chapters and is the longest chapter in Part III. Chapter 10 is the chapter added in this edition on the European dimension, which the publisher links to the changes brought about by the Human Rights Act 1998.

Chapter 11: Rules, reasoning and interpretation

The last chapter of Part III draws the approach together under the headings of rules, reasoning and interpretation.

Part IV: Questions and exercises

A section of about a dozen pages of questions and exercises. The publisher adds that further questions and exercises are integrated in the text and on the accompanying website.

Appendices

Four appendices follow the index: supplementary materials and exercises on Chapter 1; normative and legal pluralism; visual presentation of rules; and "The Reading Law Cookbook".

Key Concepts

Part II: rules in general (Chapters 2–5)

• Rule: the concept examined in Chapter 3, together with its relation to principles, policies and values.
• Exceptions and exemptions: Chapter 3 distinguishes general exceptions from exemptions in particular cases.
• Systems of rules: the relations between rules within a system, between systems, and between systems and external factors.
• Imperfect rules: the subject of Chapter 5.

Part III: reading law (Chapters 6–11)

• Standpoint and context: the starting point of the method, according to the publisher.
• Routine and problematic readings: the distinction that opens Part III.
• Legislation and cases: the two sources of law whose reading and interpretation the chapters treat in turn.
• The European dimension: the Human Rights Act and European material added in this edition.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A general method rather than a list of rules of construction. The structure moves from rules in general (Part II) to legislation and cases (Part III), so the book teaches an approach to doubt in interpretation that can be applied beyond statutes. The publisher presents the method as systematic: identify the factors that give rise to doubt, then analyse them.
• Practice built in. Questions and exercises appear within the text, in a dedicated Part IV and on the companion website, and Appendix IV offers a "Reading Law Cookbook". A reader can test the framework on examples as they go.
• Examples from legal and non-legal contexts. The title and the publisher's description present rules of all kinds as the subject, so the book is usable outside law. Professor G. J. Slapper's endorsement on the publisher's page describes it as a vivid introduction to legal methods and to the general arts of interpreting and applying rules.
• Current coverage for its date. The edition adds the European dimension chapter and, per the publisher, updates the account of the legislative process and judicial interpretation of statutes and precedent.

Limitations

• Dated for recent law. The edition appeared in 2010. Statutes, cases and developments in European and human rights law after that date are not covered, so readers need a current textbook for them.
• A different kind of book from a doctrinal text. Its subject is method, not the content of any branch of law; it does not replace a textbook on the English legal system or on a particular subject.
• Length of the opening. Chapter 1 runs to about sixty pages before the general analysis begins, and the book as a whole, with appendices, runs to about 450 pages, which is substantial for a legal-method text.
• England and Wales focus. The legislative and judicial material is that of the English system and the European Convention framework.

Where It Fits in the Course

Within the legal system and method list, this is the book to read after the basic orientation. Elliott & Quinn's English Legal System and Slapper & Kelly's The English Legal System are full course textbooks on the sources of law and the institutions that apply it, and a reader new to the system may want one of them alongside or before Twining and Miers. Glanville Williams's Learning the Law and OUP's Legal Skills are practical guides to the skills needed at the start of a law degree (reading cases and statutes, finding the law, essay and problem-question technique); Twining and Miers goes deeper on why rules raise doubts and how to reason about them.

More than Just a Different Face? is a graduate-level study of judicial diversity and decision-making, a question about who decides; this book instead concerns how rules are read, whoever the reader may be. The two combine well for a student interested in judicial reasoning.

How to Use This Book

The book suits first-year law students who want a systematic account of legal method, students of legislation, regulation or legal theory, and readers in other fields who work with rules. The publisher opens its description by addressing readers who are "new to English law", so an earlier course in the English legal system is helpful but is not presented as a requirement.

A practical plan:

• Core: Chapter 1 for the orientation, Chapter 3 for the vocabulary of rules, then Chapters 6–9 on reading legislation and cases.
• Support: Chapters 2, 4 and 5 for the background theory; Chapter 11 to consolidate the approach.
• Optional or later: Chapter 10 when European and human rights material arises; the appendices for pluralism, visual presentation of rules and the "Cookbook".
• Practice: Work the exercises in the text and in Part IV, and use the website material. Apply the approach to a real statute and a leading case from a current course, and read a recent textbook for the law itself.