The subject called �obligations' is mostly about contract and delict. There are some other heads to be considered, but the right impression is given if we say that contract and delict between them occupy about ninety per cent of the ground.

Not that accurate measurement is really possible. It is not obvious on first hearing what �obligations' and �contract and delict' have to do with each other. How do they relate? Why is it possible to say so confidently, as though it were self-evident, that �obligations' is mostly about these two events? That is one of those questions to which you can either see the answer at once or have to wait and kick yourself for not seeing.

Precisely because there are questions of that kind, there comes before the concrete topics a section on what might be called the jurisprudence of the subject or, even more trendily, aspects of its philosophy. There are three principal questions: i. What is an obliga­tion? 2. Where do obligations fit in the Roman view of the law? And 3. Inside the category, how are obligations organised? If you prefer headings to questions, you might say: i. Definition. 2. Differentiation. 3. Internal Organisation. These, and the more detailed issues which they raise, together make up �The Conceptual Map'.

Some people react against this kind of discussion. And they are right to the extent that there must not be too much of it. But as a general rule it is unsafe to get down to the nitty-gritty without stopping to think what you are doing. You are bound to have to use rather difficult words and ideas. If you plunge straight in you are likely to get in a muddle, probably without noticing until it is too late to see why; or to get out even if you can see. This matters. Because when lawyers are muddled ordinary people win and lose disputes for no good reason. More accurately, by mistake. in short because of intellectual pig­headedness injustice is done. And that is disgraceful. it is an entirely secondary consideration that well thought out law is elegant, eco­nomical, easy to learn. Do not despise jurisprudence. it is about knowing what you are doing. Sometimes, admittedly, it is difficult to find out.