Description
Book SynopsisLegal theorists consider their discipline as an objective endeavour in line with other fields of science. Objectivity in science is generally regarded as a fundamental condition, informing how science should be practised and how truths may be found. Objective scientists venture to uncover empirical truths about the world and ought to eliminate personal biases, prior commitments and emotional involvement. However, legal theorists are inevitably bound up with a given legal culture. Consequently, their scholarly work derives at least in part from this environment and their subtle interaction with it. This book questions critically, in novel ways and from various perspectives, the possibilities of objectivity of legal theory in the twenty-first century. It transpires that legal theory is unavoidably confronted with varying conceptions of law, underlying ideologies, approaches to legal method, argumentation and discourse etc, which limit the possibilities of 'objectivity' in law and in legal reasoning. The authors of this book reveal some of these underlying notions and discuss their consequences for legal theory.
Table of ContentsI. Introduction 1. Objectivity in Law and Jurisprudence Mark Van Hoecke II. Objectivity of Legal Theory 2. Can Legal Theory Be Objective? Jaap Hage 3. The Impossibility of an Outsider's Perspective Pauline C Westerman III. Legal Reasoning 4. Objective Legal Reasoning—Objectivity Without Objects Matti Ilmari Niemi 5. Legal Certainty as an Element of Objectivity in Law Juha Raitio 6. Objective Rules of Argumentation Bertjan Wolthuis 7. Easy Cases and Objective Interpretation Niko Soininen IV. Human Behaviour and its Objective Foundation 8. Can Inalienable Rights Provide an Objective Foundation for Law and Morality? Maija Aalto-Heinilä 9. Objectivity and the Law's Assumptions about Human Behaviour Péter Cserne V. (Legal) Cultures 10. Kaleidoscopic Cultural Views and Legal Theory—Dethroning the Objectivity? Jaakko Husa 11. Translators and Legal Comparatists as Objective Mediators between Cultures? Caroline Laske 12. Legal Science Challenged by Cultural Paradigms: 'Subjective Objectivity' in Legal Scholarship Mustapha El Karouni
