Imbalance in analytical legal theory's approach to prima facie legal phenomena : re-balancing after imbalance : an incremental addition to analytical legal theory -- Legal officials, the rule of recognition, and international law -- The hierarchical view of legal system and non-state legality -- Meta-theoretical-evaluative motivations -- An inter-institutional theory -- An inter-institutional account of non-state legality -- Pathologies of legality : novel technologies and their implications for conceptions of legality : the consequences of re-socializing a descriptive-explanatory view of law.

This is a collection of Canadian legal decisions, primarily from the Supreme Court of Canada, along with international cases that have bearing on Canadian law. The selected cases raise and respond to current and controversial issues in political and legal philosophy. Cases have been edited to present key legal principles and methods of judicial reasoning in action, showing not only what was decided but also how the decisions were made. Topics include: constitutional law, fundamental freedoms, equality rights, civil and criminal (...) responsibility, and sovereignty. This new fifth edition adds over two dozen new cases, including new sections on Indigenous issues and international law. A helpful glossary of common legal terms has also been added as an appendix. (shrink)

In this recent addition to the Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Law series, John Martin Fischer and Mark Ravizza offer the culmination of their efforts of the last several years to devise a comprehensive account of moral responsibility, based in large part on their notion of “guidance control”. This comprehensive account is presented not as the last word on the matter, but rather as a “philosophical explanation”. This valuable contribution to current debate offers rich resources for those concerned to dispel (...) some of the confusion at the intersection of ascriptions of legal and moral responsibility. (shrink)

The second edition of Readings in the Philosophy of Law is a concise anthology of key arguments in the philosophy of law, organized around the ideas of law and legal reasoning, limits on individual liberty, responsibility, and international law. Selections new to this edition update the anthology while continuing to present legal theory as a set of closely intertwined arguments. Critical Race Theory is addressed, as are challenges to legal theory posed by the emergence of the European Union. The readings (...) provide superb coverage of both classic and contemporary views, and they are edited only lightly to allow readers to grapple with arguments in their original form. Culver's clear, accessible introductions discuss key terms, claims, issues, connections and points of conflict in each section. Culver takes particular care to place arguments in their historical and social context, with analogies and examples emphasizing the continuing relevance of historical and contemporary arguments. (shrink)

A rigorous introduction to profound questions about the nature and role of law.

This brief book is a manifesto for a new kind of legal theory: cultural study of law and the rule of law in American experience. Heavily post-modern in orientation, style, and sources, Kahn draws from philosophical, traditionally legal, historical, and anthropological sources to illustrate the prospective benefits of this kind of cultural study. This work is a kind of prolegomenon to future work, substantially short of the comprehensive cultural study of American legal experience it proposes. At this level it is (...) perhaps a success—and at the same time this book is deeply frustrating, because Kahn rarely draws out the implications of the fascinating suggestions he offers. (shrink)

Analytical jurisprudence often proceeds with two key assumptions: that all law is either contained in or traceable back to an authorizing law-state, and that states are stable and in full control of the borders of their legal systems. What would a general theory of law be like and do if these long-standing presumptions were loosened? The Unsteady State aims to assess the possibilities by enacting a relational approach to explanation of law, exploring law's relations to the environment, security, and technology. (...) The account provided here offers a rich and renewed perspective on the preconditions and continuity of legal order in systemic and non-systemic forms, and further supports the view that the state remains prominent yet is now less dominant in the normative lives of norm-subjects and as an object of legal theory. (shrink)

This article critically considers calls for the precautionary principle to inform judicial decision making in a private law context in light of the Hoffman litigation, where it is alleged that the potential for genetic contamination from genetically modified crops causes an unreasonable interference with the rights of organic farmers to use and enjoy their lands, giving rise to an actionable nuisance. Applying the precautionary principle in this context would likely privilege non-GM land uses over GM uses, given the latter's uncertain (...) environmental impacts. Through a comparison of the institutional characteristics and respective roles of public and private regulation, the authors argue that the private law context, which lacks democratic accountability and has a limited ability to address complex scientific issues, is poorly suited to apply the diffuse, policy-based risk allocation considerations raised by the precautionary principle. (shrink)

Modern Theories of Justice is a synopsis of views developed by distinguished French economist and philosopher Serge-Christophe Kolm in over four decades of investigation into the foundations of economics and justice. This book, his first written in English, is a comprehensive introduction to his vision of a “Liberal Social Contract” as “Practical Justice” for real societies and real people.

This volume is the first of a new group of collections in the Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Law series. Each volume of the series will involve collaboration between editor and authors aimed at giving these volumes a sort of thematic unity often lacking in attempts to collect state of the art thinking on a particular topic. If the quality of this offering is representative of what is to come, we have much to look forward to in subsequent volumes.