Bringing together established academics and new researchers, the chapters in this collection interrogate the operation of 'the public’ in a range of different legal, illegal and alegal spaces. The key question which frames the contributions is whether and in what manner 'the public’ operates as an interface between law and society, allowing the interests and opinions of the population at large to be represented and reflected in legal discourse, such that collectively generated imperatives may be imposed upon political and economic actors. Multi-disciplinary in its approach, the volume reflects an understanding that there is more to the role of 'the public’ in relation to law than the conventional demarcation of the field of 'public law’ and that this relationship is open to comment from a wide range of actors.