Essays in Jurisprudence and Philosophy

by Hart, H. L. A.

• ISBN13: 9780198253884
• ISBN10: 0198253885
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1984-01-19
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The essays selected by Professor Hart for this volume were written in the twenty-eight years following his inaugural lecture in 1953 as Professor of Jurisprudence at Oxford. Originally published in England, the United States, and elsewhere, in many different journals and books, these essays cover a wide range of topics. They include Professor Hart's first attempt to demonstrate the relevance of linguistic philosophy to jurisprudence, and his first defence of the form of legal positivism later developed in his Concept of Law; his studies of the distinctive teaching of American and Scandinavian jurisprudence; a general survey of the problems of legal philosophy; and an examination of three different attempts to provide a foundation for basic human rights or liberties, and of the notion of 'social solidarity' as a justification for the enforcement of conventional morality. Five of the essays are devoted to the work of Jhering, Kelsen, Holmes, and Lon Fuller. The final essay brings a philosophical distinction to bear on the solution to a perplexity which has long plagued lawyers, concerning the notion of an attempt to commit a crime.

Author Biography

H. L. A. Hart was formerly Professor of Jurisprudence in the University of Oxford

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
General Theory	p. 19
Definition and Theory in Jurisprudence (first published 1953)	p. 21
Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals (first published 1958)	p. 49
Problems of the Philosophy of Law (first published 1967)	p. 88
American Jurisprudence	p. 121
American Jurisprudence through English Eyes: The Nightmare and the Noble Dream (first published 1977)	p. 123
1776-1976: Law in the Perspective of Philosophy (first published 1976)	p. 145
Scandinavian Jurisprudence	p. 159
Scandinavian Realism (first published 1959)	p. 161
Self-referring Laws (first published 1964)	p. 170
Liberty, Utility, And Rights	p. 179
Utilitarianism and Natural Rights (first published 1978)	p. 181
Between Utility and Rights (first published 1973)	p. 198
Rawls on Liberty and Its Priority (first published 1973)	p. 223
Social Solidarity and the Enforcement of Morality (first published 1967)	p. 248
Four Legal Theorists	p. 263
Jhering's Heaven of Concepts and Modern Analytical Jurisprudence (first published 1970)	p. 265
Diamonds and String: Holmes on the Common Law (first published 1963)	p. 278
Kelsen Visited (first published 1963)	p. 286
Kelsen's Doctrine of the Unity of Law (first published 1968)	p. 309
Lon L. Fuller: The Morality of Law (first published 1965)	p. 343
	p. 365
The House of Lords on Attempting the Impossible (first published 1981)	p. 367
Index of Names	p. 393
Index of Subjects	p. 395
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