Law's Meaning of Life

This book is interesting, and not just because its topic in inherently interesting. Nor is it interesting solely because it brings to the forefront of our minds a pervasive and important issue often submerged in our thinking about, and doing of, law. The book in addition and perhaps especially is interesting because of what it presages. It provides a picture...of a jurisprudence in which the history and present of legal (and other) practices meets the history and present of legal (and other) concepts. This seems a much more stimulating vista than the sometimes arid terrain occupied by some contemporary legal philosophy. We should be grateful to Naffine, and other like-minded scholars, for striking out in this direction: Law's Meaning of Life stands as evidence of its intellectual promise.William LucyOxford Journal of Legal Studies2009Legal theorists have devoted insufficient attention to legal personhood. This is a pity because it is a meaty issue and the great strength of Ngaire Naffine's important book...is the way in which she reveals its interest by excavating and illuminating the buried moral, metaphysical and philosophical theories which influence our thinking about legal personhood.Naffine provides a very perceptive and stimulating account of the strengths and weaknesses of Rationalism, Religionism and Naturalism. Denise MeyersonAustralian Journal of Legal PhilosophyVolume 35, 2010Professor Naffine's Law's Meaning of Life provides a very rich and stimulating jurisprudence of the nature of the legal person. She has brought together a wide array of sources and skilfully deploys them in showing the various ways that the law, lawyers and other have understood 'who law is for'. Her book will undoubtedly be an essential reference point in future debates on this central jurisprudential question.Steven TudorAustralian Journal of Legal PhilosophyVolume 35, 2010Law's Meaning of Life...makes an important contribution to our understanding of how law, and lawyers, exclude important human experiences... Naffine develops her analysis by examining an impressive range of theory as well as examples from areas such as criminal law and medical ethics.Maleiha MalikThe Modern Law ReviewVolume 73, Issue 6, 2010[Naffine] convincingly argues that law is not a self-contained system, but one that frequently looks beyond purely legal conventions and norms in order to construct the concept of legal personhood. Readers who are looking for a well organized discussion of the (often schizophrenic) way in which the positive law appropriates extra-legal conceptions of human nature would do well to rely upon Naffine's guidance.Mark NavinLaw and Politics Book ReviewVol.19, No.9, September 2009