Since the English edition of this book is already available to the scientific public, the present reviewer feels at liberty to give disproportionate notice to a few basic matters, rather than to paint a balanced picture of the whole. West is addressing lawyers, psychologists and philosophers on a topic of great importance for all of them and the question arises as to whether he handles the data and insights of psychology in such a way that they contribute significantly to the central problem.

The central problem is whether and under what conditions world law is possible. A comparative historical method would show that a world legal order is possible: all peoples in significant contact with one another have often been part of an inclusive legal system for long periods. A comparative method, furthermore, would reveal that in all, or nearly all cases the legal order was imposed from some dominant center of power. Extended applications of the same method would make it possible to go further in specifying