The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Law (Cambridge Companions to Law)

What is the nature of law as a form of social order? What bearing do values like justice, human rights, and the rule of law have on law? Which values should law serve, and what limits must it respect in serving them? Are we always morally bound to obey the law? What are the philosophical problems that arise in specific areas of law, from criminal and tort law to contract law and public international law? The book provides an accessible, comprehensive, and high quality introduction to the major themes of legal philosophy written by a stellar international cast of contributors, including John Finnis, Martha Nussbaum, Fred Schauer, Onora O'Neill and Antony Duff. The volume is an exceptional teaching tool that provides a critical introduction to cutting-edge work in the philosophy of law. "Reflection on the law gives rise to many methodological questions. Some relate to legal doctrines - how best to understand, rationalise and potentially justify areas such as contract law or administrative law or criminal procedure. This chapter, by contrast, will focus on the question of how to understand 'law in general', or the 'nature of law'. Law in this sense is standardly regarded as a particular type of social practice with two dimensions: an institutional dimension involving bodies such as legislatures and courts, and a normative dimension involving the standards and other considerations created and applied by those bodies ('the law'). How should we go about making sense of this social practice? In what way should it be approached? There are three prominent features of our contemporary understanding of law that feed into the methodological debate: (a) the idea that law is a general type of social practice, found in different cultures at different times; (b) the idea that law is a social construction, whose existence depends upon the combined beliefs and actions of a variety of social actors; and (c) the idea that law is a hermeneutic practice, that is, a practice that we self-consciously understand as a distinctive sort of social practice, and in terms of which we understand and structure features of our social world"-- Provided by the publisher "Reflection on the law gives rise to many methodological questions. Some relate to legal doctrines - how best to understand, rationalise and potentially justify areas such as contract law or administrative law or criminal procedure. This chapter, by contrast, will focus on the question of how to understand 'law in general', or the 'nature of law'. Law in this sense is standardly regarded as a particular type of social practice with two dimensions: an institutional dimension involving bodies such as legislatures and courts, and a normative dimension involving the standards and other considerations created and applied by those bodies ('the law'). How should we go about making sense of this social practice? In what way should it be approached? There are three prominent features of our contemporary understanding of law that feed into the methodological debate: (a) the idea that law is a general type of social practice, found in different cultures at different times; (b) the idea that law is a social construction, whose existence depends upon the combined beliefs and actions of a variety of social actors; and (c) the idea that law is a hermeneutic practice, that is, a practice that we self-consciously understand as a distinctive sort of social practice, and in terms of which we understand and structure features of our social world." --Descripción del editor Contents 10.1017@9781316104439.001 10.1017@9781316104439.002 10.1017@9781316104439.003 10.1017@9781316104439.004 10.1017@9781316104439.005 [doi 10.1017_9781316104439.006] Tasioulas, John -- The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Law __ Social Science and the Philosophy of Law 10.1017@9781316104439.007 10.1017@9781316104439.008 10.1017@9781316104439.009 10.1017@9781316104439.010 10.1017@9781316104439.011 10.1017@9781316104439.012 10.1017@9781316104439.013 10.1017@9781316104439.014 10.1017@9781316104439.015 10.1017@9781316104439.016 10.1017@9781316104439.017 10.1017@9781316104439.018 10.1017@9781316104439.019 10.1017@9781316104439.020 10.1017@9781316104439.021 Index Index The book provides an accessible, comprehensive, and high quality introduction to the major themes of legal philosophy, written by a stellar international cast of contributors. The volume is an exceptional teaching tool, covering themes such as law's nature, the values it should serve, and issues within specific areas of law from crime to contract.