(Illustrated: Contains extensive images and photographs, with scholarly explanations, including Holmes's handwritten notes in the margins of his book and the original admission ticket to his 1880 lectures.) Modern, accurate, and legible edition of the classic work by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., analyzing the concept of rules and the development of common law in the United States and England over ten centuries. Presented in a clear and affordable format, yet with original pagination embedded to allow accurate citation or uniform references for classroom use. Includes photographs and rare images, Holmes's original Index, Preface and detailed Contents (features missing in many prior editions), and readable typeface. Holmes wrote this work from his famous 1880 series of lectures in Boston on the life of the law, the use of history, and the basics of torts, contracts, crime, and property law. Law, he wrote, is a response to the felt necessities of the time. And in the process he wrote a book that is considered timeless. This modern edition of the classic book features an explanatory introduction and biographical summary by Steven Alan Childress, J.D., Ph.D., a senior law professor at Tulane University.