More has been said about the Hart-Fuller debate than can be considered healthy or productive even within the precious world of jurisprudential scholarship – too much philosophising about how law has revelled in its own abstractness and narrowness.
But the mission of this book is distinctly and determinedly different – it is not to rework these already-rehashed ideas, but to reject them entirely.
Rather than add to the massive jurisprudential literature that has been generated by all and sundry, the book criticises and abandons the project that Hart and Fuller set in motion. It contends that the turn that was taken in 1957 has led down a series of cul-de-sacs, blind alleys, and dead-ends to nowhere useful or illuminating. It is more than past time to leave their debate behind and strike out in an entirely new and more promising direction. The book insists that not only law, but also all theorising about law, is political in all its derivations, dimensions, and directions.
By:
Allan C Hutchinson (Osgoode Hall Law School Canada)
Imprint: Hart Publishing
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781509965243
ISBN 10: 1509965246
Pages: 248
Publication Date: 22 August 2024
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
1. 1957 and All that: A Year of Living Jurisprudentially A Holmesian Challenge A Harvard Audience A Principled Chorus A Critical Turn Conclusion 2. Looking Back and Forward: The Ground Zero of Legal Theory Hart’s Provocation A Fuller Effort And the Beat Goes On A More Personal Appreciation Only the Odious Conclusion 3. A Philosophical State of Mind: The Local Limits of Analytical Truths An Analytical Agenda Failing Globally Working Locally Razzle-Dazzle Ours and Everyone Else’s Going Global Conclusion 4. Legality from a Positivist Outlook: Of Social Facts and Moral Fancies The Positivist Project The Facts of the Matter Beyond All Recognition Separation Anxiety Soft and Hard Responses Conclusion 5. From Validity to Legitimacy: Exploring Law’s Morality Morality, Values and Other Judgments A Procedural Hedge A More Substantive Turn Positivists as Moral Critics Taking a Pragmatic Stand Conclusion 6. Breaking Bad: From Validity to Legitimacy Beyond Validity Giving Orders On the Edges Keeping Up Appearances The Hall of Shame Conclusion 7. Keeping Active: Law as Practice Here’s the Thing A Social Activity A Common Dilemma Purely Working A Less Godly Practice Conclusion 8. Looking for Solid Ground: The Elusive Search for Interpretive Certitude Of Penumbras and Paintings A Fuller Tradition Mixing and Matching On the Dark Side? A Political Reckoning Conclusion 9. Keeping the Faith: Law, Obedience and Compliance Introducing the Bad Man Showing an Interest An Obliging Approach Slouching Towards Evil A Revolting Possibility Conclusion 10. Legal Theory on the Move: A Never-Ending Inquiry The Debate that Never Dies An Economic Turn The Dworkinian Gambit A Critical Slant Up, Down and Sideways Conclusion
Allan C Hutchinson is Distinguished Research Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto, Canada
