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The world's most revered and eloquent interpreter of evolutionary ideas offers here a work of explanatory force unprecedented in our time--a landmark publication, both for its historical sweep and for its scientific vision. With characteristic attention to detail, Stephen Jay Gould first describes the content and discusses the history and origins of the three core commitments of classical Darwinism: that natural selection works on organisms, not genes or species; that it is almost exclusively the mechanism of adaptive evolutionary change; and that these changes are incremental, not drastic. Next, he examines the three critiques that currently challenge this classic Darwinian edifice: that selection operates on multiple levels, from the gene to the group; that evolution proceeds by a variety of mechanisms, not just natural selection; and that causes operating at broader scales, including catastrophes, have figured prominently in the course of evolution.

It is well recognised that company law is a large and complex subject which has expanded rapidly in volume in recent years. Added to this is the continual reform to the existing law. This is partly due to the need to comply with obligations imposed on the United Kingdom from Brussels, but partly because of the increasing complexity of commercial life generally. There is no sign that the growth and reform is at an end. In addition, there are now two established series of specialist company law reports (Butterworths Company Law Cases and British Company Cases) which have obviously resulted in many more cases reaching the public domain for comment and analysis. Further, no work on Company Law can now ignore the extra-legal controls and influences on director’s conduct contained in the recent reports on corporate governance nor the proposals for reform put forward, in particular, by the Law Commission. This edition deals with the main features of both the Law Commission’s Report on Shareholder Remedies and the Law Commission’s Consultation Paper on the reform of director’s duties.