Understanding Jurisprudence

223 Pages·2006·1.77 MB·English

by  Denise Meyerson

Understanding Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence considers general philosophical and theoretical questions about
the nature, purpose and operation of law as a whole. This book introduces
students to contemporary debates in jurisprudence and encourages them to think
in a theoretical and critical way about the nature of law, legal reasoning and
adjudication. Wider issues of morality, politics and society are discussed with
reference to legal cases and examples to provide as broad a perspective on the
law as possible.
Key features of this textbook include:
(cid:2) introductions to each chapter
(cid:2) analysis of how jurisprudential issues can arise in everyday life
(cid:2) a wide range of cases to ground the theoretical discussion
(cid:2) in-depth discussion of the relationship of law to force, morality and politics,
as well as of rights, justice and feminist jurisprudence.
The text provides a concis e treatment of all the major topics typically covered in
an undergraduate course on jurisprudence, and succinctly explains the arguments
for and against the different approaches to the issues raised.
Denise Meyerson is Professor of Law at Macquarie University, Sydney and
Honorary Professor of Law at the University of Cape Town.

Understanding Jurisprudence
Denise Meyerson
First published 2007
by Routledge-Cavendish
2 Park Square,Milton Park,Abingdon,Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge-Cavendish
270 Madison Ave,New York,NY 10016
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2009.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
Routledge-Cavendish is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
© 2007 Denise Meyerson
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical,or other means,now known or hereafter
invented,including photocopying and recording,or in any
information storage or retrieval system,without permission in
writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-86787-4 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10:1–85941–956–9 (pbk)
ISBN13:978–1–85941–956–4 (pbk)
For Mike

Contents
Preface ix
Table of cases xi
Introduction 1
1 Law and force 9
2 Law and morality 33
3 Law and politics: mainstream theories 61
4 Law and politics: challenging the mainstream 89
5 Rights 117

6 Public and private 133
7 Justice 151
8 Feminist jurisprudence 173
Bibliography 198
Index 205

Preface
This book draws on and elucidates the work of all the major contemporary
jurisprudential scholars in the Anglo-American tradition as well as selected
historical thinkers who have made important contributions to jurisprudential
debates. I have tried to make theoretical and abstract views understandable while
avoiding over-simplification. The reader should therefore not expect a ‘Cook’s
Tour’or potted summary of various theories and thinkers. I try to do justice to
the theories which are discussed, while also explaining them in ways that are,
Ihope, intuitive, accessible and stimulating.
The book carves up the subject matter of jurisprudence in a distinctive way. It
is organised around issues rather than key figures or theories. So it does not
contain chapters devoted to theorists like Kelsen or Dworkin, nor to theories like
‘the natural law tradition’ or ‘realism’. I present the subject matter of
jurisprudence via the arguments offered by different legal theorists in relation to
the issues about which they disagree. As a result, most of the theorists discussed
make several appearances in the book. The book also contains numerous
cross-references designed to bring out the fact that the issues are not discrete
but systematically related – that answers to one question invariably carry
implications for the answers to other questions.
Though my own views will at times become apparent, the emphasis throughout
is on an even-handed presentation of the reasons for and against the differing
approaches to the various issues raised. I have not aimed to persuade readers to
adopt a particular view but rather to give them the resources to arrive at their
own assessments of the various theories and positions discussed, and to form
views of their own.
I would like to thank a number of people for very helpful comments:
AntonFagan, Christina Murray, Peter Radan, Cameron Stewart, Max Taylor and
Paul Taylor.