Do not encroach on other persons or their property. He discusses two kinds of law which he refers to as scientific law and political law. Scientific law is based on principle and is assumed to exist whether or not it has been recorded. It is the law of right and wrong. It is discovered rather than being created.
Scientific law includes old common law.
Political law is the more arbitrary law that is created at the whim of those who have the power to impose laws on others. Part of the reason, according to Maybury, is that common law was not perfect. What is right and what is wrong was still being discovered. While common law is largely ignored by our government today, it is still of interest to people who want to live in a just society. In nine of the last ten chapters of the book, the author discusses some areas in which common law has not been well developed.