Arguing about Law introduces philosophy of law in an accessible and engaging way. The reader covers a wide range of topics, from general jurisprudence, law, the state and the individual, to topics in normative legal theory, as well as the theoretical foundations of public and private law. In addition to including many classics, Arguing About Law also includes both non-traditional selections and discussion of timely topical issues like the legal dimension of the war on terror.
The editors provide lucid introductions to each section in which they give an overview of the debate and outline the arguments of the papers, helping the student get to grips with both the classic and core arguments and emerging debates in:
- the nature of law
- legality and morality
- the rule of law
- the duty to obey the law
- legal enforcement of sexual morality
- the nature of rights
- rights in an age of terror
- constitutional theory
- tort theory.
Arguing About Law is an inventive and stimulating reader for students new to philosophy of law, legal theory and jurisprudence.
General Jurisprudence 1. The Nature of Law: Framing the Debate 1. Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Path of the Law 2. H. L. A. Hart, Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals 3. Lon L. Fuller, Positivism and Fidelity to Law: A Reply to Professor Hart 4. Ronald Dworkin, The Model of Rules 2. Legality and Morality 5. Joseph Raz, Legal Positivism and the Sources of Law 6. Jules Coleman, Negative and Positive Positivism 7. Robert George, Natural Law and Positive Law 8. Ronald Dworkin, Law as Interpretation 9. John Gardner, Legal Positivism: 5½ Myths Law, the State and the Individual 3. The Rule of Law 10. Joseph Raz, The Rule of Law and its Virtue 11. Ronald Dworkin, Political Judges and the Rule of Law 12. Jeremy Waldron, The Rule of Law as a Theater of Debate 4. The Duty to Obey the Law 13. Joseph Raz, The Obligation to Obey: Revision and Tradition 14. John Rawls, The Justification of Civil Disobedience 15. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail 5. The Legal Enforcement of Sexual Morality 16. John Finnis, Law, Morality, and ‘Sexual Orientation’ 17. Stephen Macedo, Against the Old Sexual Morality of the New Natural Law Rights 6. The Nature of Rights 18. H. L. A. Hart, Are There Any Natural Rights? 19. Neil MacCormick, Rights in Legislation 20. Ronald Dworkin, Rights as Trumps 21. Joseph Raz, Rights and Individual Well-Being 7. Rights, Terrorism, and Torture 22. Jeremy Waldron, Security and Liberty: The Image of Balance 23. Henry Shue, Torture in Dreamland: Disposing of the Ticking Bomb 24. Jeff McMahan, Torture, Morality, and the Law Theorizing Areas of Law 8. Constitutional Theory: Interpretation and Authority 25. Jeremy Waldron, A Rights-Based Critique of Constitutional Rights 26. Cecile Fabre, The Dignity of Rights, 27. Andrei Marmor, excerpt on constitutional interpretation from Interpretation and Legal Theory 28. Antonin Scalia, excerpt on constitutional interpretation from A Matter of Interpretation: Federal Courts and the Law 9. Criminal Law Theory Punishment 29. Daniel Farrell, The Justification of General Deterrence 30. Antony Duff, Penal Communities 31. John Gardner, Crime: In Proportion and in Perspective 10 Tort Theory: Corrective Justice 32. A. M. Honoré, The Morality of Tort Law – Questions and Answers 33. Stephen R. Perry, On the Relationship Between Corrective and Distributive Justice, 34. Jeremy Waldron, Moments of Carelessness and Massive Loss Critical Approaches to Law 11. Critical Legal Studies, Critical Race Theory and Feminist Theory 35. Roberto Unger, The Critical Legal Studies Movement 36. Richard Delgado, The Ethereal Scholar: Does Critical Legal Studies Have What Minorities Want? 37. Anne Phillips, Feminism and the Politics of Difference
Biography
Aileen Kavanagh is Reader in Law and Fellow of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, UK.
John Oberdiek is Professor of Law at the Rutgers University School of Law, Camden, USA, and Co-Director of the Rutgers Institute for Law and Philosophy.
A splendid textbook for a course in jurisprudence, whether aimed at philosophy students or at law students. It offers an imaginative range of topics and readings, reaching well beyond the usual confines of such books to include issues that should engage even sceptical students, and draw them into the philosophy of law. The readings are challenging but accessible; the editors' introductions to each chapter and sets of suggested questions are admirably clear and helpful.
Professor R A Duff, Department of Philosophy, University of Stirling, UK
Kavanagh and Oberdiek have put together a top-notch reader that provides solid grounding in the main branches of jurisprudence and legal theory. The editors have a keen sense of what contemporary writers are actually arguing about, and their collection will entice students of philosophy, law, or politics into the conversation.
Leslie Green, Professor of the Philosophy of Law, University of Oxford, UK
