What makes Civilisation? is an overview of the history of Law and Western civilisation from the Mycenaeans to today - over 3000 years. The impetus for writing this short book was my belief that classicists, historians, economists and politicians simply do not understand law. They have a blind spot. As such, they are uninterested in this topic. Without law, you cannot have a developed civilisation.
As a result of this misunderstanding, on any discussion on Western civilisation, the enormous contribution law has made is simply ignored or not given the attention it deserves. This book attempts to tackle the reasons why law's contribution to Western civilisation is so misunderstood.
I conclude by comparing Western civilisation with other previous civilisations and comment on postmodernism and the rule of law.
Born in 1951 and brought up near Burnley, John went to Sedbergh School, then to Leeds University where he studied law. He joined Allen & Overy in 1975 and left in 1980 to go to Hong Kong, where he formed and was a litigation partner in an international firm of solicitors and represented Hong Kong at rugby. In 2003, he formed his own legal firm and still practices as a notary public. John is married to Mary and they have four children: Stephanie, Juliette, James, and Charles. Juliette and Charles are solicitors with leading international firms. Stephanie studied law and accountancy at Leeds University and is a chartered accountant. James is a director at HM Treasury.
