The Case of the Speluncean Explorers: Nine New Opinions
Routledge (1998)
| Abstract | The Case of the Speluncean Explorers by Lon Fuller first appeared in the Harvard Law Review in 1949. It has since become the most famous fictitious legal case in the US and is used widely by law schools. The case revolves around an episode in the year 4,300. A band of explorers become trapped in a cave and are forced to cannibalize a member of their team. When they are rescued, five Supreme Court judges provide opinions on what should be done with them. Peter Suber has added nine new opinions along feminist, communitarian, economic, constructionist, postmodern theories of law. The complete Fuller article is included in the beginning of the book. Why read this book? One reason is to get beyond sloganeering about "judicial activism" and "activist judges". The book is an enjoyable and even-handed way to understand what the debate is about. It doesn't tell you what to think, but illustrates the contending positions and lets you think for yourself. It will show you how judges with different moral and political beliefs interpret written law, how they use precedents, how they conceive the proper role of judges, how they conceive the relationship between law and morality, and how they defend their judicial practices against criticism. It anchors all of this in a Supreme Court hearing of a gripping, concrete case on which real people disagree. (Challenge: Take any view of how judges should interpret law, especially any view that makes it sound easy, and try it out on this case. How well can it respect the facts and law? How well can it answer the objections from judges who take other views? How well does it deliver justice?) The book uses no jargon and assumes no prior knowledge of law or legal philosophy. | |||||||||
| Keywords | Law Philosophy | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Buy the book | $34.02 direct from Amazon (19% off) Amazon page | |||||||||
| Call number | K230.F842.S8 1998 | |||||||||
| ISBN(s) | 0415185459 9780415185462 0415185467 9780415185455 | |||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,672 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesJohn Deigh (2011). Empathy, Justice, and Jurisprudence. Southern Journal of Philosophy 49 (s1):73-90.
Kim Lane Scheppele (1988). Legal Secrets: Equality and Efficiency in the Common Law. University of Chicago Press.
Anthony Reeves (2011). Judicial Practical Reason: Judges in Morally Imperfect Legal Orders. Law and Philosophy 30 (3):319-352.
Torben Spaak (2009). Karl Olivecrona on Judicial Law-Making. Ratio Juris 22 (4):483-498.
Anthony R. Reeves (2010). Do Judges Have an Obligation to Enforce the Law?: Moral Responsibility and Judicial-Reasoning. Law and Philosophy 29 (2):159-187.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads30 ( #40,824 of 549,065 )Recent downloads (6 months)4 ( #19,186 of 549,065 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
