Law, Interpretation and Reality: Essays in Epistemology, Hermeneutics and Jurisprudence (Law and Philosophy Library, 11)

PATRICKNERHOT Since the two operations overlap each other so much, speaking about fact and interpretation in legal science separately would undoubtedly be highly artificial. To speak about fact in law already brings in the operation we call interpretation. EquaHy, to speak about interpretation is to deal with the method of identifying reality and therefore, in large part, to enter the area of the question of fact. By way of example, Bemard Jackson's text, which we have placed in section 11 of the first part of this volume, could no doubt just as weH have found a horne in section I. This work is aimed at analyzing this interpretation of the operation of identifying fact on the one hand and identifying the meaning of a text on the other. All philosophies of law recognize themselves in the analysis they propose for this interpretation, and we too shall seek in this volume to fumish a few elements of use for this analysis. We wish however to make it clear that our endeavour is addressed not only to legal philosophers: the nature of the interpretive act in legal science is a matter of interest to the legal practitioner too. He will find in these pages, we believe, elements that will serve hirn in rcflcction on his daily work. Front Matter....Pages i-vi Introduction....Pages 1-8 Front Matter....Pages 9-9 Fact and Law....Pages 11-21 The Fact and the Law....Pages 22-37 The Concept of Fact in Legal Science....Pages 38-49 The Law and Its Reality....Pages 50-69 On Rational Acceptability. Some Remarks on Legal Justification....Pages 73-83 Semiotics and the Problem of Interpretation....Pages 84-103 Preliminary Remarks on a Legal Logic and Ontology of Relations....Pages 104-123 Front Matter....Pages 125-125 Narrative Coherence and the Limits of the Hermeneutic Paradigm....Pages 127-168 From the Deductive to the Argumentative Rationality of Law....Pages 169-192 Interpretation in Legal Science....Pages 193-225 The Jury and Reality....Pages 226-250 Hermeneutics and Narrative Comprehension....Pages 251-274 Coherence, Truth and Rightness in the Law....Pages 275-309 Narrative Coherence and the Guises of Legalism....Pages 310-345 A Linguistic Analysis of Narrative Coherence in the Court-Room....Pages 346-378 The Normative Syllogism and the Problem of Reference....Pages 379-401 Legal Certainty, Coherence and Consensus: Variations on a Theme by Maccormick....Pages 402-430 Normative Coherence and Epistemological Presuppositions of Justification....Pages 431-455 Back Matter....Pages 457-457