Legal Philosophies

Legal Philosophies has been written to provide a clear guide to the main topics in a jurisprudence or legal theory course with the novice in mind. It provides summaries of the pertinent arguments within these topics, and of the views of leading theorists. This new edition takes a look at the emergence of 'Critical Legal Studies' and 'Feminist Jurisprudence', whilst there are new sections on 'Moral Truth' and 'Communitarianism' (a revived theoretical approach).

1. What is jurisprudence about? ; 2. Natural law and moral truth ; 3. The command theory of law ; 4. Utilitarianism and the economic analysis of law ; 5. Punishment ; 6. Kelson's pure theory of law ; 7. Legal concepts ; 8. Legal realism and critical legal studies ; 9. Hart's concept of law ; 10. Freedom and the enforcement of morals ; 11. The morality of law and the rule of law ; 12. Statutory interpretation ; 13. Precedent ; 14. Dworkin's rights thesis ; 15. Legal reasoning ; 16. The duty to obey the law ; 17. The historical school and non-state law ; 18. Sociological jurisprudence ; 19. Law, social theory and Marxist jurisprudence ; 20. Justice: liberal, communitarian and feminist ; Index