Of course, there is something to this idea. For example, we might think that contracts is the law of voluntary transactions, whereas torts deals with involuntary (or unconsented-to) transactions. It might be thought that there is some 'seam' or dividing line that sharply separates these two doctrinal fields. A classic example of this idea can be found by examining the line between torts and contracts. If the law is a seamless web, then the categorization of legal doctrine into discrete fields (torts, property, contracts, and so forth) does not accurately capture the nature of the law. The Seamless Web and the Interconnectedness of Legal Doctrine One idea expressed by the metaphor of the seamless web is the interconnectedness of legal doctrine.

This post in the Legal Theory Lexicon series will the seamless web metaphor and its several implications for legal theory.Īs always, the Lexicon is especially aimed at law students-especially first-year law students-with an interest in legal theory. The idea idea that law is seamless web is ambiguous-the aphorism expresses different ideas on different occasions. 13 (1898)) Maitland didn't actually say that the 'law is a seamless web,' but he is usually given credit for the idea that the law forms some kind of 'organic unity' or is characterized by strong interconnections. Maitland, the famous legal historian wrote, “Such is the unity of all history that any one who endeavors to tell a piece of it must feel that his first sentence tears a seamless web.” ( A Prologue to a History of English Law, 14 L.

Seamless web