Legal Nationalisms in Scotland

A critical re-assessment of nationalist influences and thinking in the history of Scottish law and legal scholarship.
Scottish legal nationalism (sometimes defined as the belief that Scots law is an exceptional system, the integrity of which must be safeguarded against harmful external influences) has been a source of controversy in modern Scots law. This book is a major contribution to a long-running debate and aims at an understanding of the phenomenon more nuanced than its most recent and negative assessments as reactionary, backward-looking and elitist. Rather, legal nationalism in various forms has contributed significantly to the reform and modernisation of the Scots law and legal system since the Anglo-Scottish Union of 1707.The book contributes to wider academic debates about legal nationalism as a phenomenon in legal systems generally, reflecting especially on the question whether private law is inherently either national or, rather