Law's quandary / Steven D. Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Steven D. (Steven Douglas), 1952-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Law--Philosophy.

Rule of law.

Physical Description:

xiv, 206 p.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This lively book reassesses a century of jurisprudential thought from a fresh perspective, and points to a malaise that currently afflicts not only legal theory but law in general. Steven Smith argues that our legal vocabulary and methods of reasoning presuppose classical ontological commitments that were explicitly articulated by thinkers from Aquinas to Coke to Blackstone, and even by Joseph Story. But these commitments are out of sync with the world view that prevails today in academic and professional thinking. So our law-talk thus degenerates into "just words"--or a kind of nonsense. The diagnosis is similar to that offered by Holmes, the Legal Realists, and other critics over the past century, except that these critics assumed that the older ontological commitments were dead, or at least on their way to extinction; so their aim was to purge legal discourse of what they saw as an archaic and fading metaphysics. Smith's argument starts with essentially the same metaphysical predicament but moves in the opposite direction. Instead of avoiding or marginalizing the "ultimate questions," he argues that we need to face up to them and consider their implications for law.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Part I. Law and Metaphysics?

1. Just Words ?

2. Ontological Dynasties

Part II. (How) Is Law for Real?

3. Does “the Law” Exist?

4. The Jurisprudence of Modernity

Part III. The Metaphysics of Legal Meaning

5. How Does Law Mean?

6. Author(s)Wanted

Part IV. Mind the Gap

7. Law in a Quandary

Epilogue: Confusion and Confession

Notes

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 181-202) and index.

ISBN:

9780674043824

0674043820

OCLC:

923109137