This is not a textbook. It does not purport to be. It is an explorative book which seeks to reconsider the established boundaries of contract, tort and restitution and other traditional legal categories. It examines these categories to see what new and additional insights can be discerned by looking at particular topics from a co-ordinated point of view, helping to show the limitations and inconsistencies which have been produced by the traditional approach. After an initial consideration of the nature of obligation, the remainder of the book is divided into two parts. The first deals with what the author calls the incidence of obligations: fault liability, liability without fault, liability for financial loss, unjust enrichment and liability connected with premises. The second part deals with factors negativing obligation.

It is a brave man who confines his discussion of the nature of obligations to only seven pages. Within these pages the author deals with the idea of obligation, rights and duties, the relationship between obligations and remedies, the formal sources of legal obligations and finally a number of other legal concepts. It is a pity that a little more space has not been spent on this chapter as it forms the foundation on which the rest of the book is based. However, given the initial assumptions, the rest of the book hangs together quite well. It considers the law from the point of view of the interest protected. After an initial consideration of the limitations of the existing rules concerning chattels and land, interference with the person, and a person’s reputation, the author moves on to a fuller consideration of liability without fault and liability based on fault. As would be expected, the topics considered under liability without fault seem to be an historical list and the section contains a wide discussion of the