Search results for ""author leo katz""
The University of Chicago Press Why the Law Is So Perverse
Conundrums, puzzles, and perversities: these are Leo Katz's stock-in-trade, and in "Why the Law Is So Perverse", he focuses on four fundamental features of our legal system, all of which seem to not make sense on some level and to demand explanation. First, legal decisions are essentially made in an either/or fashion - guilty or not guilty, liable or not liable, either it's a contract or it's not - but reality is rarely that clear-cut. Why aren't there any in-between verdicts? Second, the law is full of loopholes. No one seems to like them, but somehow they cannot be made to disappear. Why? Third, legal systems are loath to punish certain kinds of highly immoral conduct while prosecuting other far less pernicious behaviors. What makes a villainy a felony? Finally, why does the law often prohibit what are sometimes called win-win transactions, such as organ sales or surrogacy contracts? Katz asserts that these perversions arise out of a cluster of logical difficulties related to multicriterial decision making. The discovery of these difficulties dates back to Condorcet's eighteenth-century exploration of voting rules, which marked the beginning of what we know today as social choice theory. Condorcet's voting cycles, Arrow's Theorem, Sen's Libertarian Paradox - every seeming perversity of the law turns out to be the counterpart of one of the many voting paradoxes that lie at the heart of social choice. Katz's lucid explanations and apt examples show why they resist any easy resolutions. "The New York Times Book Review" called Katz's first book "a fascinating romp through the philosophical side of the law". "Why the Law Is So Perverse" is sure to provide its readers a similar experience.
£46.92
The University of Chicago Press Why the Law Is So Perverse
Conundrums, puzzles, and perversities: these are Leo Katz's stock-in-trade, and in "Why the Law Is So Perverse", he focuses on four fundamental features of our legal system, all of which seem to not make sense on some level and to demand explanation. First, legal decisions are essentially made in an either/or fashion - guilty or not guilty, liable or not liable, either it's a contract or it's not - but reality is rarely as clear-cut. Why aren't there any in-between verdicts? Second, the law is full of loopholes. No one seems to like them, but somehow they cannot be made to disappear. Why? Third, legal systems are loath to punish certain kinds of highly immoral conduct while prosecuting other far less pernicious behaviors. What makes a villainy a felony? Finally, why does the law often prohibit what are sometimes called win-win transactions, such as organ sales or surrogacy contracts? Katz asserts that these perversions arise out of a cluster of logical difficulties related to multicriterial decision making. "Why the Law Is So Perverse" contains lucid explanations and apt examples that show why the perversity of the law resists any easy resolutions.
£21.53
The University of Chicago Press Ill-Gotten Gains: Evasion, Blackmail, Fraud, and Kindred Puzzles of the Law
This work leads us through a tangled realm, with puzzles and dilemmas, to find the underlying principles that not only guide the law but our moral decisions as well. Katz aims to uncover what is really at stake in crimes such as insider trading, blackmail and plagiarism. He then goes on to look at their connections to cases that try to evade the law by finding refuge in it, from the convict who staves off execution by rendering himself incompetent with mind-altering drugs to companies that sell strategies to beat the SAT test. Ultimately, Katz argues that the law, as well as our conscience, is surprisingly uninterested in final outcomes, but sensitive to how we get there. He states that the fact that we abhor sins of commission so much more than sins of omission is just one manifestation of that.
£43.28
The University of Chicago Press Ill-Gotten Gains: Evasion, Blackmail, Fraud, and Kindred Puzzles of the Law
In Ill-Gotten Gains, Leo Katz describes the underlying principles that not only guide the law but also moral decisions. Mixing wit with insight, anecdotes with analysis, Katz uncovers what is really at stake in crimes such as insider trading, blackmail, and plagiarism. With its startling conclusions and myriad twists, this book will fascinate all those intrigued by the perplexing relationship between morality and law."An ambitious and well-written book of legal and moral theory to overthrow both utilitarianism and its cousin, the economic approach to law."—Richard A. Posner, New Republic"A good, well-written book full of interesting examples."—Library Journal"[An] elegant defense of circumvention and subterfuge . . . a heroically counterintuitive book."—Malcolm Gladwell, New Yorker
£26.96
The University of Chicago Press Bad Acts and Guilty Minds: Conundrums of the Criminal Law
With wit and intelligence, Leo Katz seeks to understand the basic rules and concepts underlying the moral, linguistic, and psychological puzzles that plague the criminal law. "Bad Acts and Guilty Minds ...revives the mind, it challenges superficial analyses, it reminds us that underlying the vast body of statutory and case law, there is a rationale founded in basic notions of fairness and reason...It will help lawyers to better serve their clients and the society that permits attorneys to hang out their shingles."--Edward N. Costikyan, New York Times Book Review
£28.78