First published in 1917 (Part 1) and 1918 (Part 2), with a second edition in 1946, this is the first English translation of Santi Romano’s classic work, L’ordinamento giuridico (The Legal Order). The main focus of The Legal Order is the notion of institution, which Romano considers to be both the core and distinguishing feature of law. After criticising accounts of the nature of law centred on notions of rule, coercion or authority, he offers a compelling conception, not merely of law as an institution, but of the institution as ‘the first, original and essential manifestation of law’. Romano advances a definition of a legal institution as any group who share rules within a bounded context: for example, a family, a firm, a factory, a prison, an association, a church, an illegal organisation, a state, the community of states, and so on. Therefore, this understanding of legal institutionalism at the same time provides a ground-breaking theory of legal pluralism whereby ‘there are as many legal orders as institutions’. The acme of a jurisprudential current long overlooked in the Anglophone environment (Romano’s work is highly regarded in France, Germany, Spain and South America, as well as in Italy), The Legal Order not only proposes what Carl Schmitt described as a ‘very significant theory’. More importantly, it offers precious insights for a thorough rethinking of the relationship between law and society in today’s world.

Lucinda is chosen to be a live-in chef as a birthday present for Joe, a handsome bachelor and highly praised investor. According to his grandmother, the woman giving him the gift, Joe is gay. Lucy is ecstatic to hear this. After her family went bankrupt and her fiancé left her, she’s sick of love. But things take a sudden turn when Joe gives her a sweet but passionate kiss. At the touch of his lips, Lucinda is reminded of the most embarrassing night of her life, when she was forcibly kissed by the same man!

Written opinions are the primary means by which judges communicate with external actors. These sentiments include the parties to the case itself, but also more broadly journalists, public officials, lawyers, other judges, and increasingly, the mass public. In Creating the Law, Michael K. Romano and Todd A. Curry examine the extent to which judges tailor their language in order to avoid retribution during their retention, and how institutional variations involving intra-chamber dynamics may influence the written word of a legal opinion. Using an extensive dataset that includes the text of all death penalty and education decisions issued by state supreme courts from 1995–2010, Romano and Curry are the first to examine the connection between retention incentives and language choices. They utilize text analysis techniques developed in the field of communications and apply them to the text of judicial decisions. In doing so, they find that judges write with their audience in mind, and emphasize duelling strategies of justification and persuasion in order to please diverse audiences that may be paying attention. Furthermore, the process of drafting a majority opinion is a team exercise, and when more individuals are involved in its crafting, the product will reflect this complexity. This book gives students the tools for understanding how institutional variation affects judicial outcomes and shows how language relates to decision-making in the judiciary more specifically.

The Legal Theory of Carl Schmitt provides a detailed analysis of Schmitt’s institutional theory of law, mainly developed in the books published between the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s. By reading Schmitt’s overall work through the lens of his institutional turn, the authors offer a strikingly different interpretation of Schmitt’s theory of politics, law and the relation between these two domains. The book argues that Schmitt’s adhesion to legal institutionalism was a key theoretical achievement, based on serious reconsideration of the main flaws of his own decisionist paradigm, in the light of the French and Italian institutional theories of law. In so doing, the authors elucidate how Schmitt was able to unravel many of the impasses that affected his previous conceptual framework. The authors also make comparisons between Schmitt and other leading legal theorists (H. Kelsen, M. Hauriou, S. Romano and C. Mortati) and explain why the current legal debate should take into serious account his legacy.

A family by Christmas… Nurse Rilla Winters is shocked to learn the new E.R. director at Brisbane General is her husband! It’s been seven years since they drifted apart after her miscarriage, but the reappearance of Luca Romano, in all his dark-haired, flashing-eyed Italian glory, throws her emotions into confusion. From the moment he sees Rilla again, Luca knows she is the only woman for him. With emotions riding high, they spend one very special night together and Rilla becomes pregnant...again. Luca knows that this tiny new life is a symbol of hope. Maybe he and Rilla actually can become a family by Christmas. Another great story from Brisbane General Hospital!

She’s hired to work for the wealthy man who trampled on her heart! When Orla travels to Amalfi to attend her stepfather’s birthday party, she’s worried about reuniting with Torre, whom she gave her innocence to eight years ago. Back then, when he’d found out that Orla was the daughter of his father’s second wife, he’d coldly rejected her, assuming that she was after his fortune. Orla’s avoided him ever since, but when Torre finds out she’s looking for a job, he offers to hire her as his personal secretary…