Moral Aspects of Legal Theory

Essays on Law, Justice, and Political Responsibility

David Lyons author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:29th Jan '93

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Moral Aspects of Legal Theory cover

In this volume, Professor Lyons outlines his fundamental views about the nature of law and its relation to morality and justice.

This volume comprises essays written over a period of twenty years in which Professor Lyons outlines his fundamental views about the nature of law and its relation to morality and justice. The underlying theme of the book is that a system of law has only a tenuous connection with morality and justice.David Lyons is one of the pre-eminent philosophers of law active in the United States. This volume comprises essays written over a period of twenty years in which Professor Lyons outlines his fundamental views about the nature of law and its relation to morality and justice. The underlying theme of the book is that a system of law has only a tenuous connection with morality and justice. Contrary to those legal theorists who maintain that no matter how bad the law of a community might be, strict conformity to existing law automatically dispenses 'formal' justice, Professor Lyons contends that the law must earn the respect that it demands. Moreover, we cannot, as some would suggest, interpret law in a value-neutral manner. Rather courts should interpret statutes, judicial precedents, and constitutional provisions in terms of values that would justify those laws. In this way officials can promote the justifiability of what they do to people in the name of law, and can help the law live up to its moral pretensions.

'A rich and diverse collection of important essays by one of this country's outstanding legal and political philosophers.' Jules Coleman, Yale Law School

ISBN: 9780521438353

Dimensions: 237mm x 159mm x 24mm

Weight: 482g

236 pages