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This work canvasses fundamental problems within the diverse disciplines of legal philosophy, democratic theory, philosophy of adjudication, and public-law theory and suggests a unified approach to unraveling them. It also addresses practical questions of law and government in a way that should appeal to anyone interested in the complex and often troubled relationship among morality, democracy, and the rule of law. --
This volume presents a variety of both normative and descriptive perspectives on the use of precedent by the United States Supreme Court. It brings together a diverse group of American legal scholars, some of whom have been influenced by the Segal/Spaeth "attitudinal" model and some of whom have not. The group of contributors includes legal theorists and empiricists, constitutional lawyers and legal generalists, leading authorities and up-and-coming scholars. The book addresses questions such as how the Court establishes durable precedent, how the Court decides to overrule precedent, the effects of precedent on case selection, the scope of constitutional precedent, the influence of concurrences and dissents, and the normative foundations of constitutional precedent. Most of these questions have been addressed by the Court itself only obliquely, if at all. The volume will be valuable to readers both in the United States and abroad, particularly in light of ongoing debates over the role of precedent in civil-law nations and emerging legal systems.
This book examines the role played by domestic and international judges in the “flexibilization” of legal systems through general principles. It features revised papers that were presented at the Annual Conference of the European-American Consortium for Legal Education, held at the University of Parma, Italy, May 2014. This volume is organized in four sections, where the topic is mainly explored from a comparative perspective, and includes case studies. The first section covers theoretical issues. It offers an analysis of principles in shaping Dworkin’s theories about international law, a reflection on the role of procedural principles in defining the role of the judiciary, a view on t...
This book examines the need to develop a due process framework having regard to the uniquely political and crisis-based context in which the Security Council operates.
The focus of this book is the idea of equality as a moral, political and jurisprudential concept. The author is motivated primarily by a concern to better understand conundrums in the justification, interpretation and application of discrimination law. Nicholas Smith aims to provide a clearer understanding of the nature of the value that the law is trying to uphold - equality. He rejects the notion that the concept of equality is vacuous and defends the idea as the proper range of moral concern. After discussing the general characteristics of the denial of equality and some types of discrimination, Smith considers prominent views on the point of equality law. He argues that human rights lawy...
Kent Greenawalt's From the Bottom Up constitutes a collection of articles and essays written over the last five decades of his career. They cover a wide range of topics, many of which address ties between political and moral philosophy and what the law does and should provide. A broad general theme is that in all these domains, what really is the wisest approach to difficult circumstances often depends on the particular issues involved and their context. Both judges and scholars too often rely on abstract general formulations to provide answers. A notable example in political philosophy was the suggestion of the great and careful scholar, John Rawls, that laws should be based exclusively on ...
The role courts should play in American democracy has long been contested, fueling debates among citizens who take an active interest in politics. Alexander Bickel made a significant contribution to these debates with his seminal publication, The Least Dangerous Branch, which framed the problem of defending legitimate judicial authority. This book addresses whether or not the countermajoritarian difficulty outlined in Bickel's work continues to have significance for constitutional theory almost a half-century later. The contributors illustrate how the countermajoritarian difficulty and Bickel's response to it engage prominent theories: the proceduralisms of John Hart Ely and Jeremy Waldron; the republicanisms of Bruce Ackerman and Cass Sunstein; and the originalisms of Raoul Berger, Robert Bork, and Keith Whittington. In so doing, this book provides a useful introduction to recent debates in constitutional theory and also contributes to the broader discussion about the proper role of the courts.
"With keen insight into the common law mind, Edlin argues that there are rich resources within the law for judges to ground their opposition to morally outrageous laws, and a legal obligation on them to overturn it, consequent on the general common law obligation to develop the law. Thus, seriously unjust laws pose for common law judges a dilemma within the law, not just a moral challenge to the law, a conflict of obligations, not just a crisis of conscience. While rooted firmly in the history of common law jurisprudence, Edlin offers an entirely fresh perspective on an age-old jurisprudential conundrum. Edlin's case for his thesis is compelling." ---Gerald J. Postema, Cary C. Boshamer Profe...
Developments in American Politics 3 offers a timely, comprehensive, and thought-provoking assessment of government, politics, and policy in the United States. Written by a team of leading international scholars and focused on the trends of the 1990s, this book sets the scene for a thorough understanding of American politics into the new century.
This book investigates the concepts of equality and dignity under same-sex marriage jurisprudence. Having surveyed the multinational developments of same-sex marriage and arguments from proponents and opponents, the writer studies the two concepts with an aim to revealing their inadequacies as grounds for contentious rights claims such as same-sex marriage. To truly live up to the spirit of equality and equal dignity, the writer argues that the seemingly uncompromising disagreement over the issue requires people to explore common ground to make room for deliberation. It also requires the disagreeing parties to acknowledge that their disagreement is about the best interpretation of fundamental values that everyone shares, and not confrontation between conflicting worldviews neither of which is comprehensible to the other.