Fernanda Pirie has produced a hugely impressive and important piece of work for sociolegal studies. It is a genuinely interdisciplinary study that takes on a foundational question for our field: what is law? Her thesis, carefully constructed and defended, is provocative and, in my view, significant both for its content and or the method by which she produces it. Although it will be of interest to scholars well beyond sociolegal studies, it is a book that deserves a great deal of attention within the field.
Simon Halliday, Social & Legal Studies
This is a fascinating investigation into the nature of law in light of the findings of anthropology and comparative law... This reader has learnt a good deal from this persuasively argued book with its wealth of examples from all parts of the world and all ages of history. It must be recommended to anyone interested in legal theory, comparative law, or legal anthropology.
Gordon R. Woodman, The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law
Fernanda Pirie's The Anthropology of Law is an exciting introduction to this ethnographically informed field of inquiry. Although a number of texts on anthropology and law have been published in recent years, Pirie's commentary is imbued with her own insightful contributions that help to more clearly define the field and at the same time make it accessible to a wide range of scholars across the social sciences and humanities.
Eve Darian-Smith, Law and History Review