Knowing What the Law Is : Legal Theory in a New Key

This book provides a selective and somewhat cheeky account of prominent positions in legal theory, such as American legal realism, modern legal positivism, sociological systems theory, institutionalism and critical legal studies. It presents a relational approach to law and a new perspective on legal sources. The book explores topics of legal theory in a playful manner. It is written and composed in a way that refutes the widespread prejudice that legal theory is a dreary subject, with a cast of characters that occasionally interact in order to illustrate the claims of the book. Legal experts claim to know what the law is. Legal theory – or jurisprudence – explores whether such claims are warranted. The discipline first emerged at the turn of the 20th century, when the self-confidence of both legal scholarship and judicial craftsmanship became severely shattered, but the crisis continues to this day. Preface Contents Legal Knowledge § 1 § 2 § 3 § 4 § 5 § 6 § 7 § 8 § 9 § 10 § 11 § 12 § 13 § 14 § 15 § 16 § 17 § 18 § 19 § 20 § 21 § 22 § 23 § 24 § 25 § 26 § 27 § 28 § 29 § 30 § 31 § 32 § 33 § 34 § 35 § 36 § 37 § 38 § 39 Mild and Wild Formalism § 40 § 41 § 42 § 43 § 44 § 45 § 46 § 47 § 48 § 49 § 50 § 51 § 52 § 53 § 54 American Legal Realism § 55 § 56 § 57 § 58 § 59 § 60 § 61 § 62 § 63 § 64 § 65 § 66 § 67 § 68 § 69 § 70 § 71 § 72 § 73 § 74 § 75 § 76 § 77 § 78 Modern Legal Positivism § 79 § 80 § 81 § 82 § 83 § 84 § 85 § 86 § 87 § 88 § 89 § 90 § 91 § 92 § 93 § 94 § 95 § 96 § 97 § 98 § 99 § 100 § 101 § 102 § 103 § 104 § 105 The Demise of Modern Legal Positivism § 106 § 107 § 108 § 109 § 110 § 111 § 112 § 113 § 114 § 115 § 116 § 117 § 118 § 119 § 120 § 121 § 122 § 123 § 124 § 125 § 126 § 127 § 128 § 129 § 130 § 131 Objective Spirit § 132 § 133 § 134 § 135 § 136 § 137 § 138 § 139 § 140 § 141 § 142 § 143 § 144 § 145 § 146 § 147 § 148 § 149 § 150 § 151 § 152 § 153 § 154 Rupture § 155 § 156 § 157 § 158 § 159 § 160 § 161 § 162 § 163 § 164 § 165 § 166 § 167 § 168 § 169 § 170 § 171 § 172 § 173 The Legal Relation § 174 § 175 § 176 § 177 § 178 § 179 § 180 § 181 § 182 § 183 § 184 § 185 § 186 § 187 § 188 § 189 § 190 § 191 § 192 § 193 § 194 § 195 § 196 § 197 § 198 § 199 § 200 § 201 § 202 § 203 § 204 § 205 Bibliography Index "This book provides a selective and somewhat cheeky account of prominent positions in legal theory, such as American legal realism, modern legal positivism, sociological systems theory, institutionalism and critical legal studies. It presents a relational approach to law and a new perspective on legal sources. The book explores topics of legal theory in a playful manner. It is written and composed in a way that refutes the widespread prejudice that legal theory is a dreary subject, with a cast of characters that occasionally interact in order to illustrate the claims of the book. Legal experts claim to know what the law is. Legal theory-or jurisprudence-explores whether such claims are warranted. The discipline first emerged at the turn of the 20th century, when the self-confidence of both legal scholarship and judicial craftsmanship became severely shattered, but the crisis continues to this day"-- Provided by publisher