General Jurisprudence: Understanding Law from a Global Perspective

by William Twining

• ISBN13: 9780521505932
• ISBN10: 0521505933
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-03-02
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book explores how globalisation influences the understanding of law. Adopting a broad concept of law and a global perspective, it critically reviews mainstream Western traditions of academic law and legal theory. Its central thesis is that most processes of so-called 'globalisation' take place at sub-global levels and that a healthy cosmopolitan discipline of law should encompass all levels of social relations and the legal ordering of these relations. It illustrates how the mainstream Western canon of jurisprudence needs to be critically reviewed and extended to take account of other legal traditions and cultures. Written by the one of the foremost scholars in the field, this important work presents an exciting alternative vision of jurisprudence. It challenges the traditional canon of legal theorists and guides the reader through a field undergoing seismic changes in the era of globalisation. This is essential reading for all students of jurisprudence and legal theory.

Author Biography

William Twining is Quain Professor of Jurisprudence Emeritus of University College London.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xxi
List of abbreviations	p. xxii
Further abbreviations	p. xxv
	p. 1
Jurisprudence, globalisation and the discipline of law: a new general jurisprudence	p. 3
Clean water	p. 3
Western traditions of academic law	p. 5
Jurisprudence	p. 8
The significance of 'globalisation'	p. 13
'General jurisprudence'	p. 18
Jurisprudence, legal philosophy, and empirical legal studies	p. 21
Legal positivism	p. 25
Analytical jurisprudence in a global context	p. 32
Introduction: conceptual questions	p. 32
Analytical jurisprudence	p. 35
Four case studies	p. 45
Continuities between conceptual analysis and empirical enquiries	p. 54
Conclusion	p. 60
Mapping law: Families, civilisations, cultures and traditions	p. 63
Introduction	p. 63
Four responses to the question: 'What is law?'	p. 64
Mapping law	p. 67
Families, civilisations, cultures and traditions	p. 76
Constructing conceptions of law: Beyond Hart, Tamanaha and Llewellyn	p. 88
Tamanaha on Hart	p. 88
Refining Llewellyn: the law-jobs theory	p. 103
Tamanaha and Llewellyn compared	p. 106
'Mapping' legal phenomena from a global perspective: A flexible working conception of law	p. 116
Normative jurisprudence, utilitarianism, and theories of justice	p. 122
Introduction	p. 122
The Western heritage	p. 123
Positivism, universalisability, universalism, and relativism	p. 126
Classical utilitarianism: Jeremy Bentham	p. 133
Peter Singer: a modern Benthamite	p. 143
Modified utilitarianism	p. 149
Theories of justice: Rawls and Pogge	p. 153
Human rights as moral, political and legal rights	p. 173
The only game in town? Human rights theory: five perspectives	p. 173
Human rights law and morality	p. 178
Human rights law as 'universal': Moderate scepticism	p. 183
Human rights as moral rights: comprehensive and selective scepticism	p. 185
Comprehensive sceptics	p. 186
Selective criticism and the rhetoric of rights	p. 199
Meeting the challenges to human rights: Griffin, Tasioulas and Sen	p. 202
Introduction: challenges and concessions	p. 202
James Griffin: a dualist substantive theory	p. 206
John Tasioulas: a pluralist substantive theory	p. 209
Discourse theories	p. 217
Empirical dimensions of law and justice	p. 225
Introduction	p. 225
A note on terminology	p. 226
The historical context	p. 230
Berlin, 2007	p. 237
The implications of globalisation: social theory and the transnationalisation of empirical legal studies	p. 242
Comparative empirical legal studies	p. 244
Qualitative comparative legal studies	p. 245
Quantitative comparative legal studies	p. 251
An empirical science of law?	p. 258
Conclusion	p. 262
	p. 267
Diffusion of law: A global perspective	p. 269
Mapping law: a naïve model of diffusion	p. 269
Some landmarks in the study of diffusion of law	p. 273
A global perspective: diffusion, levels of law, and interlegality	p. 275
Beyond the naïve model: some counter-assumptions	p. 277
Conclusion	p. 291
Surface law	p. 293
Sophie's problem	p. 293
Five case studies	p. 296
Meaning and referents of 'surface law'	p. 316
Some health warnings	p. 318
Conclusion	p. 320
Is law important? Law and the Millennium Development Goals	p. 323
Introduction	p. 323
'Law and development': An historical excursus	p. 326
Contemporary perceptions of the role of law in development: five models	p. 330
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)	p. 348
The Millennium Development Goals and Uganda: A case-study	p. 355
Non-state law: The forgotten factor	p. 357
Conclusion	p. 360
The significance of non-state law	p. 362
Taking non-state law seriously	p. 362
Four concerns	p. 366
Human rights: Southern voices	p. 376
Introduction	p. 376
Francis Mading Deng	p. 378
Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im	p. 393
A realist and materialist interpretation: Yash Ghai	p. 406
Upendra Baxi	p. 424
Four Southern voices	p. 438
Conclusion	p. 443
Bibliography	p. 452
Index	p. 505
The following text can be found online at www.cambridge.org/twinning
Some basic concepts
Elusive isms: Instrumentalism, pluralism, scientism, realism
Law teaching as a vocation
Appendices
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