The Rule of Law

by Shapiro, Ian

• ISBN13: 9780814780244
• ISBN10: 0814780245
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-07-01
• Publisher: New York Univ Pr

Summary

From the sprawling remnants of the Soviet empire to the southern tip of Africa, attempts are underway to replace arbitrary political regimes with governments constrained by the rule of law. This ideal which subordinates the wills of individuals, social movements--and even, sometimes, democratically elected majorities--to the requirements of law, is here explored by leading legal and political thinkers.Part I ofThe Rule of Lawexamines the interplay of democracy and the rule of law, while Part II focusses on the centuries-old debate about the meaning of the rule of law itself. Part III takes up the constraints that rationality exercises on the rule of law. If the rule of law is desirable partly because it is rational, then departures from that rule might also be desirable in the event that they can be shown to be rational. Part IV concentrates on the limits of the rule of law, considering the tensions between liberalism and the rule of law which exist despite the fact that reasoned commitment to the rule of the law is preeminently a liberal commitment. Contributing to the volume are: Robert A. Burt (Yale University), Steven J. Burton (University of Iowa), William N. Eskridge, Jr. (Georgetown University), John Ferejohn (Stanford University), Richard Flathman (Johns Hopkins University), Gerald F. Gaus (University of Minnesota, Duluth), Jean Hampton (University of Arizona), Russell Hardin (University of Chicago), James Johnson (University of Rochester), Jack Knight (Washington University), Stephen Macedo (Harvard University), David Schmidtz (Yale University), Lawrence B. Solum (Loyola Marymount University), Michael Walzer (Princeton University), Catherine Valcke (University of Toronto), and Michael P. Zuckert (Carleton College).

Table of Contents

Preface
Contributors
Introduction	p. 1
Democracy and the Rule of Law	p. 13
Civil Disobedience and the Rule of Law - A Lockean Insight	p. 45
Hobbes, Locke, and the Problem of the Rule	p. 63
Democracy, Equality, and the Death Penalty	p. 80
The Legal Codes of Ancient Israel	p. 101
Equity and the Rule of Law	p. 120
The Rule of Law, Justice, and the Politics of Moderation	p. 148
Particularism, Discretion, and the Rule of Law	p. 178
My University's Yacht: Morality and the Rule of Law	p. 205
The Institution of Morality	p. 228
Public Choice and the Rule of Law: Rational Choice Theories of Statutory Interpretation	p. 244
Politics, Interpretation, and the Rule of Law	p. 265
Liberalism and the Suspect Enterprise of Political Institutionalization: The Case of the Rule of Law	p. 297
Public Reason and the Rule of Law	p. 328
Index	p. 365
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