Prescriptive Legal Positivism: Law, Rights and Democracy

Tom Campbell is well known for his distinctive contributions to legal and political philosophy over three decades. In emphasizing the moral and political importance of taking a positivist approach to law and rights, he has challenged current academic orthodoxies and made a powerful case for regaining and retaining democratic control over the content and development of human rights.

This collection of his essays reaches back to his pioneering work on socialist rights in the 1980s and forward from his seminal book, The Legal Theory of Ethical Positivism (1996). An introductory essay provides an historical overview of Professor Campbell's work and argues for the continuing importance of 'democratic positivism' at a time when it is again becoming clear that courts are ineffective protectors of human rights.

The Point of Legal Positivism; The Ethics of Positivism; Legal Positivism and Political Power; Legislative Intent and Democratic Decision Making; Judicial Activism - Justice or Treason?; The Legalism of Rights; Democracy, Human Rights and Positive Law; Human Rights: a Culture of Controversy; Incorporation through Interpretation; Legal Positivism and Deliberative Democracy; Democratic Aspects of Legal Positivism; Democracy in a World of Global Markets; Democratising Human Rights.