A Theory of Legal Sentences
A Theory of Legal Sentences

Author: Manuel Atienza

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 9400708483

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Legal statements are, according to the authors, the most basic elements of the law. Nevertheless they must be considered not only as the pieces of a puzzle, but also as the components of a dynamic and highly complex reality: the law of contemporary society. The book presents an analysis of the different types of legal statements (mandatory rules, principles, power-conferring rules, definitions, permissions, values and the rule of recognition) from a threeefold perspective, that is, considering their logical structure, their function in legal reasoning as reasons for action, and their connections with the interests and power relationships among the individuals and the social groups. The result is conceived as a first step in the building of a general theory of law designed not as an isolated discourse but as a decisive element for the dynamization of the legal culture.

A Theory of Legal Punishment
A Theory of Legal Punishment

Author: Matthew C. Altman

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-05-05

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 1000379345

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This book argues for a mixed theory of legal punishment that treats both crime reduction and retribution as important aims of the state. A central question in the philosophy of law is why the state’s punishment of its own citizens is justified. Traditionally, two theories of punishment have dominated the field: consequentialism and retributivism. According to consequentialism, punishment is justified when it maximizes positive outcomes. According to retributivism, criminals should be punished because they deserve it. This book recognizes the strength of both positions. According to the two-tiered model, the institution of punishment and statutory penalties, as set by the legislature, are justified based on their costs and benefits, in terms of deterrence and rehabilitation. The law exists to preserve the public order. Criminal courts, by contrast, determine who is punished and how much based on what offenders deserve. The courts express the community’s collective sense of resentment at being wronged. This book supports the two-tiered model by showing that it accords with our moral intuitions, commonly held (compatibilist) theories of freedom, and assumptions about how the extent of our knowledge affects our obligations. It engages classic and contemporary work in the philosophy of law and explains the theory’s advantages over competing approaches from retributivists and other mixed theorists. The book also defends consequentialism against a longstanding objection that the social sciences give us little guidance regarding which policies to adopt. Drawing on recent criminological research, the two-tiered model can help us to address some of our most pressing social issues, including the death penalty, drug policy, and mass incarceration. This book will be of interest to philosophers, legal scholars, policymakers, and social scientists, especially criminologists, economists, and political scientists.

Theory of Legal Principles
Theory of Legal Principles

Author: Humberto Avila

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2007-09-26

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 1402058799

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This book examines the distinction between principles and rules so that they can be better understood and applied. It structures the distinction between principles and rules on different foundations than those jurisprudence ordinarily employs. It also proposes a new model to explain the normative species, which includes structured weighing on the application process while encompassing substantive criteria of justice in its argument.

THE PRACTICE OF JUSTICE
THE PRACTICE OF JUSTICE

Author: William H. Simon

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 9780674002753

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William Simon, a legal theorist with experience in practice, here argues that the profession's standard approach to questions of legal ethics is incoherent and implausible, insisting the critical weakness is the style of judgment.

Fundamentals of Sentencing Theory
Fundamentals of Sentencing Theory

Author: Andrew Ashworth

Publisher: Oxford Monographs on Criminal

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 0198262566

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The Oxford Monographs on Criminal Law and Justice series covers all aspects of criminal law and procedure including criminal evidence. The scope of the series is wide, encompassing both practical and theoretical works. This volume is a thematic collection of essays on sentencing theory by leading writers. The essays consider several issues affecting the discipline including the underlying justifications for the imposition of punishment by the State, areas of sentencing policy that have given rise to particular difficulty, such as the sentencing of drug offenders, the rationale for discounting sentences for multiple offenders, the existence of special sentencing for young offenders, and cases where the injury done to the victim is of a different magnitude from what might have been expected, and includes various questions about the unequal impact on offenders of different sentencing measures. This volume is dedicated to Professor Andrew von Hirsch, whose continuing work on sentencing theory provided the stimulus for the collection.

Liberal Criminal Theory
Liberal Criminal Theory

Author: A P Simester

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2014-12-01

Total Pages: 639

ISBN-13: 1782254560

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This book celebrates Andreas (Andrew) von Hirsch's pioneering contributions to liberal criminal theory. He is particularly noted for reinvigorating desert-based theories of punishment, for his development of principled normative constraints on the enactment of criminal laws, and for helping to bridge the gap between Anglo-American and German criminal law scholarship. Underpinning his work is a deep commitment to a liberal vision of the state. This collection brings together a distinguished group of international authors, who pay tribute to von Hirsch by engaging with topics on which he himself has focused. The essays range across sentencing theory, questions of criminalisation, and the relation between criminal law and the authority of the state. Together, they articulate and defend the ideal of a liberal criminal justice system, and present a fitting accolade to Andreas von Hirsch's scholarly life.

Pure Theory of Law
Pure Theory of Law

Author: Hans Kelsen

Publisher: The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13: 1584775785

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Reprint of the second revised and enlarged edition, a complete revision of the first edition published in 1934. A landmark in the development of modern jurisprudence, the pure theory of law defines law as a system of coercive norms created by the state that rests on the validity of a generally accepted Grundnorm, or basic norm, such as the supremacy of the Constitution. Entirely self-supporting, it rejects any concept derived from metaphysics, politics, ethics, sociology, or the natural sciences. Beginning with the medieval reception of Roman law, traditional jurisprudence has maintained a dual system of "subjective" law (the rights of a person) and "objective" law (the system of norms). Throughout history this dualism has been a useful tool for putting the law in the service of politics, especially by rulers or dominant political parties. The pure theory of law destroys this dualism by replacing it with a unitary system of objective positive law that is insulated from political manipulation. Possibly the most influential jurisprudent of the twentieth century, Hans Kelsen [1881-1973] was legal adviser to Austria's last emperor and its first republican government, the founder and permanent advisor of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Austria, and the author of Austria's Constitution, which was enacted in 1920, abolished during the Anschluss, and restored in 1945. The author of more than forty books on law and legal philosophy, he is best known for this work and General Theory of Law and State. Also active as a teacher in Europe and the United States, he was Dean of the Law Faculty of the University of Vienna and taught at the universities of Cologne and Prague, the Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Harvard, Wellesley, the University of California at Berkeley, and the Naval War College. Also available in cloth.

Law/Society
Law/Society

Author: John Sutton

Publisher: Pine Forge Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 9780761987055

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A core text for the Law and Society or Sociology of Law course offered in Sociology, Criminal Justice, Political Science, and Schools of Law. * John Sutton offers an explicitly analytical perspective to the subject - how does law change? What makes law more or less effective in solving social problems? What do lawyers do? * Chapter 1 contrasts normative and sociological perspectives on law, and presents a brief primer on the logic of research and inference as it is applied to law related issues. * Theories of legal change are discussed within a common conceptual framework that highlights the explantory strengths and weaknesses of different arguments. * Discussions of "law in action" are explicitly comparative, applying a consistent model to explain the variable outcomes of civil rights legislation. * Many concrete, in-depth examples throughout the chapters.

Sentencing Multiple Crimes
Sentencing Multiple Crimes

Author: Jesper Ryberg

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0190607602

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Sentencing Multiple Crimes confronts the practical and theoretical challenges for the criminal justice system when punishing multiple crime offenders, including the proportionality of the crimes committed, the temporal span between the crimes, and the relationship between theories about the punitive treatment of recidivists and multiple offenders. It provides a comprehensive examination of the dynamics involved with sentencing multiple offenders from the perspective of several legal theories.