Philosophy of Law The Fundamentals

by Murphy, Mark C.

• ISBN13: 9781405129466
• ISBN10: 1405129468
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781118008102
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-08-11
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

The Philosophy of Law is a broad-reaching text that guides readers through the basic analytical and normative issues in the field, highlighting key historical and contemporary thinkers and offering a unified treatment of the various issues in the philosophy of law. Enlivened with numerous, everyday examples to illustrate various concepts of law. Employs the idea of three central commonplaces about law - that law is a social matter, that law is authoritative, and that law is for the common good - to organize seemingly disparate topics and to bring rival views into contention with each other. The first volume in the Fundamentals of Philosophy series, in which leading philosophers explore the fundamental issues and core problems in the major sub-disciplines of philosophy.

Author Biography

Mark C. Murphy is Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University, where he works in moral, political, and legal philosophy. He is the author of Natural Law and Practical Rationality (2001), An Essay on Divine Authority (2002), and Natural Law in Jurisprudence and Politics (2006), and the editor of Alasdair MacIntyre (2003).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Philosophy, the Familiar, and the Unfamiliar

What Are Our Commonplaces About Law?

The Course of Our Inquiry

For Further Reading

Analytical Fundamentals: The Concept of Law

The Question, and its Importance

Basic Austinianism

Positivist Lessons

Hartian Positivism

Interlude: Hard and Soft Positivisms

Natural Law Theory

FullerÆs Procedural Natural Law Theory

AquinasÆs Substantive Natural Law Theory

A Suggested Resolution

Appendix: Why is it Called ôNatural Law Theoryö?

For Further Reading

Normative Fundamentals: The Basic Roles of Paradigmatic Legal Systems

What are the Basic Roles of Paradigmatic Legal Systems?

The Role of Subject

The Role of Legislator

The Role of Judge

For Further Reading

The Aims of Law

The Aims of Law and the Common Good

The Harm-to-others Principle

Challenges to the Harm-to-others Principle: Types of Harm

Challenges to the Harm-to-others Principle: The Party Armed

Morals Legislation

For Further Reading

The Nature and Aims of the Criminal Law

Types of Legal Norms

Crime and Punishment

Two Normative Theories of Punishment

Justification and Excuse

For Further Reading

The Nature and Aims of Tort Law

Torts and Crimes

Torts and Damages

Economic and Justice Accounts of Negligence Torts

Elements of the Negligence Tort

Damages

Intentional Torts and Torts of Strict Liability

For Further Reading

Challenging the Law

Putting Legal Roles to the Question

Against the Role of Subject: Philosophical Anarchism

Against the Role of Legislator: Marxism / Feminist Legal Theory / Critical Race Theory

Against the Role of Judge: American Legal Realism / Critical Legal studies

For Further Reading

Index

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