Without compromising the integrity of either Levinas' poetic evocations of our spirit or the law's dense descriptions of our society, Manderson brings the two into constructive dialogue. For the student of Levinas, the author offers an understanding of the implications and difficulties involved in applying ethics to law - major issues in continental philosophy. For the student of law, he provides a powerful framework through which to reconceptualize duty of care, the law of negligence, and the nature of legal judgment itself - major issues in legal theory.