Description
Book SynopsisPublished posthumously, the second edition of The Concept of Law contains one important addition to the first edition, a substantial Postscript, in which Hart reflects upon some of the central concerns that have been expressed about the book since its publication in 1961. The Postscript is especially noteworthy because it contains Hart''s only sustained response to the objections pressed by his foremost critic, Ronald Dworkin, who succeeded him to the Chair of Jurisprudence at Oxford. The Postscript focuses on a range of issues covering both Hart''s substantive view and his methodological commitments. In particular, Hart endorses Inclusive Legal Positivism, asserts that his is a methodology of descriptive jurisprudence which he contrasts with Dworkin''s normative jurisprudence or interpretivism, while denying that his theory of law has a semantic underpinning. The essays in this collection address each of these issues in a sustained way. The book contains discussions of Hart''s semanti
Trade ReviewThis is a thorough book, with articles of the highest quality indeed, and one cannot fault the excellence of the analysis... a fitting memorial to a master legal theorist... * 22(3) Legal Studies *
Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Two Views of the Nature of The Theory of Law: A Partial Comparison ; 2. Herbert Hart and the Semantic Sting ; 3. Hart's Semantics ; 4. Incorporationism, Conventionality and the Practical Difference Thesis ; 5. On Hart's Way Out ; 6. Legal Conventionalism ; 7. The Model of Social Facts ; 8. Law's Claim of Legitimate Authority ; 9. Hart's Methodological Positivism ; 10. Legal Realism, Hard Positivism, and Limits of Conceptual Analysis ; 11. The Political Question of the Concept of Law ; 12. Normative (or Ethical) Positivism ; Index
