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What Makes Law

What Makes Law

What Makes Law

An Introduction to the Philosophy of Law
Liam Murphy, New York University
June 2014
Available
Paperback
9780521542197

    This book offers an advanced introduction to central questions in legal philosophy. What factors determine the content of the law in force? What makes a normative system a legal system? How does law beyond the state differ from domestic law? What kind of moral force does law have? These are all questions about the nature of law. The most important existing views are introduced, but the aim is not to survey the existing literature. Rather, this book introduces the subject by stepping back from the fray to sketch the big picture, to show just what is at stake in these old debates.

    Legal philosophy has become somewhat arid and inward looking. In part this is because the disagreement between the main camps on the important questions is apparently intractable. The main aim of the book is to suggest both a diagnosis and a proper practical response to this situation of intractable disagreement about questions that do matter.

    • Aims to suggest a proper practical response to the intractable disagreements surrounding legal philosophy

    Product details

    May 2014
    Adobe eBook Reader
    9781139989299
    0 pages
    0kg
    This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.

    Table of Contents

    • 1. Introduction
    • 2. Morality and the grounds of law
    • 3. Legal positivism
    • 4. Nonpositivism
    • 5. Disagreement in practical philosophy
    • 6. Law
    • 7. The normative force of law
    • 8. What makes law law?: law beyond the state
    • 9. Conclusion: what matters?
      Author
    • Liam Murphy , New York University

      Liam Murphy works in legal, moral, and political philosophy and the application of these inquiries to law and legal theory. He has published two books: Moral Demands in Nonideal Theory (2000) and The Myth of Ownership: Taxes and Justice (2002, with Thomas Nagel). His articles have appeared in Philosophy and Public Affairs among other journals. Murphy has been an associate editor and now is a member of the editorial board of Philosophy and Public Affairs. He was vice dean of the New York University School of Law from 2007 to 2010.