The Functions of Law
The Functions of Law

Author: Kenneth M. Ehrenberg

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016-03-11

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 019166846X

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What is the nature of law and what is the best way to discover it? This book argues that law is best understood in terms of the social functions it performs wherever it is found in human society. In order to support this claim, law is explained as a kind of institution and as a kind of artefact. To say that it is an institution is to say that it is designed for creating and conferring special statuses to people so as to alter their rights and responsibilities toward each other. To say that it is an artefact is to say that it is a tool of human creation that is designed to signal its usability to people who interact with it. This picture of law's nature is marshalled to critique theories of law that see it mainly as a product of reason or morality, understanding those theories via their conceptions of law's function. It is also used to argue against those legal positivists who see law's functions as relatively minor aspects of its nature. This method of conceptualizing law's nature helps us to explain how the law, understood as social facts, can make normative demands upon us. It also recommends a methodology for understanding law that combines elements of conceptual analysis with empirical research for uncovering the purposes to which diverse peoples put their legal activities.

Introduction to the English Legal System
Introduction to the English Legal System

Author: Martin Partington

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 0198852924

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Introduction to the English Legal System is the ideal foundation for those coming new to the study of law. Writing in a highly engaging and accessible style, Martin Partington introduces the purposes and functions of English law, the law-making process, and the machinery of justice, while also challenging assumptions and exploring current debates. Consolidating over 40 years' experience in the law, Martin Partington examines beliefs about the English legal system, and encourages students to question how far it meets the growing demands placed on it. Incorporating all the latest developments, this concise introduction brings law and the legal system to life. Digital formats and resources: This edition is available for students and institutions to purchase in a variety of formats, and is supported by online resources. - The e-book offers a mobile experience and convenient access along with functionality tools, navigation features, and links that offer extra learning support: www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/ebooks - The online resources include questions for reflection and discussion; self-test questions; a glossary; further reading materials; web links; and a link to Martin Partington's blog, which covers key developments in the English justice system.

The Function of Law in the International Community
The Function of Law in the International Community

Author: Hersch Lauterpacht

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2011-07-14

Total Pages: 1759

ISBN-13: 0191018465

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The Function of Law in the International Community, first published in 1933, is one of the seminal works on international law. Its author, Sir Hersch Lauterpacht, is widely considered to be one of the great international lawyers of the 20th century. It continues to influence those studying and working in international law today. This republication once again makes this book available to scholars and students in the field. It features a new introduction by Professor Martti Koskenniemi, examining the world in which the Function of Law was originally published and the lasting legacy of this classic work.

Law for Society
Law for Society

Author: Kevin M. Clermont

Publisher: Aspen Publishing

Published: 2010-02-18

Total Pages: 1081

ISBN-13: 1454860294

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Law for Society: Nature, Functions, and Limits offers an illuminating conceptual framework that looks at five basic legal instruments with which the law addresses the problems and goals of society. For any Introduction to Law course or as secondary reading in political science, criminal justice, or general studies, Law for Society breaks down the very concept of “law” to answer the questions: What is law? How does law work? What can law do and not do? The book addresses the nature of law, its problem-solving functions, and the limits on what law can accomplish.

The Function of Public International Law
The Function of Public International Law

Author: Jan Anne Vos

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-02-26

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 9067048615

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This book addresses fundamental aspects of the concept of public international law in both theory and practice. The argument developed by the author is that, underlying the traditional, horizontal, structure of public international law, a vertical structure of the concept of law may be discerned. This vertical structure is seen unfolding into two, mutually exclusive, frameworks: a framework of obligation, accounting for obligations, and a framework of authorization, accounting for rights. The problem then arising is that a concept of public international law which only admits either rights or obligations cannot be regarded as coherent. The author, however, takes and substantiates the position that coherence can be achieved by suppressing the mutual exclusivity of both frameworks. This move paves the way to formulating the function of public international law in terms of the constituting of international society. Since in public international law the theoretical aspects profoundly affect practice, this book is not only of interest to academics, but also for practitioners, such as officials of foreign offices and international institutions.

The Cambridge Companion to the Rule of Law
The Cambridge Companion to the Rule of Law

Author: Jens Meierhenrich

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-08-12

Total Pages: 715

ISBN-13: 1108620175

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The Cambridge Companion to the Rule of Law introduces students, scholars, and practitioners to the theory and history of the rule of law, one of the most frequently invoked-and least understood-ideas of legal and political thought and policy practice. It offers a comprehensive re-assessment by leading scholars of one of the world's most cherished traditions. This high-profile collection provides the first global and interdisciplinary account of the histories, moralities, pathologies and trajectories of the rule of law. Unique in conception, and critical in its approach, it evaluates, breaks down, and subverts conventional wisdom about the rule of law for the twenty-first century.

Form and Function in a Legal System
Form and Function in a Legal System

Author: Robert S. Summers

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2005-11-14

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 1139448870

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This book addresses three major questions about law and legal systems: (1) What are the defining and organising forms of legal institutions, legal rules, interpretative methodologies, and other legal phenomena? (2) How does frontal and systematic focus on these forms advance understanding of such phenomena? (3) What credit should the functions of forms have when such phenomena serve policy and related purposes, rule of law values, and fundamental political values such as democracy, liberty, and justice? This book seeks to offer general answers to these questions and thus gives form in the law its due. The answers not only provide articulate conversancy with the subject but also reveal insights into the nature of law itself, the oldest and foremost problem in legal theory and allied subjects.

The Expressive Powers of Law
The Expressive Powers of Law

Author: Richard H. McAdams

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2015-02-09

Total Pages: 335

ISBN-13: 0674967208

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When asked why people obey the law, legal scholars usually give two answers. Law deters illicit activities by specifying sanctions, and it possesses legitimate authority in the eyes of society. Richard McAdams shifts the prism on this familiar question to offer another compelling explanation of how the law creates compliance: through its expressive power to coordinate our behavior and inform our beliefs. “McAdams’s account is useful, powerful, and—a rarity in legal theory—concrete...McAdams’s treatment reveals important insights into how rational agents reason and interact both with one another and with the law. The Expressive Powers of Law is a valuable contribution to our understanding of these interactions.” —Harvard Law Review “McAdams’s analysis widening the perspective of our understanding of why people comply with the law should be welcomed by those interested either in the nature of law, the function of law, or both...McAdams shows how law sometimes works by a power of suggestion. His varied examples are fascinating for their capacity both to demonstrate and to show the limits of law’s expressive power.” —Patrick McKinley Brennan, Review of Metaphysics

The Oxford Handbook of the New Private Law
The Oxford Handbook of the New Private Law

Author: Andrew S. Gold

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2020-11-06

Total Pages: 640

ISBN-13: 0190919663

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"This book discusses developments in scholarship dedicated to reinvigorating the study of the broad domain of private law. This field, which embraces the traditional common law subjects-property, contracts, and torts-as well as adjacent, more statutory areas, such as intellectual property and commercial law, also includes important subjects that have been neglected in the United States but are beginning to make a comeback. The book particularly focuses on the New Private Law, an approach that aims to bring a new outlook to the study of private law by moving beyond reductively instrumentalist policy evaluation and narrow, rule-by-rule, doctrine-by-doctrine analysis, so as to consider and capture how private law's various features fit and work together, as well as the normative underpinnings of these larger structures. This movement is resuscitating the notion of private law itself in United States and has brought an interdisciplinary perspective to the more traditional, doctrinal approach prevalent in Commonwealth countries. The book embraces a broad range of perspectives to private law-including philosophical, economic, historical, and psychological- yet it offers a unifying theme of seriousness about the structure and content of private law."--