Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The contributions to this volume are very much like legal philosophy itself: diverse, capacious and infinitely interesting. An overriding consideration in the production of this book has been the desire to appeal to specialists and non-specialists alike. To this end, three aspirations reflected in each contribution are depth, breadth and accessibility. The book is divided in a conventional manner. The first of three parts (Areas of Law) contains accounts of each department of law. Consistent with the editor's charge, each author addresses a given department of law, providing an overview of various approaches and putting debates and contested questions in focus. Part II (Contemporary Schools and Perspectives) provides a survey of a variety of contemporary approaches to law. Largely theoretical in nature, each school or perspective represents a general account of law as an object of theoretical or reflective inquiry. The range of perspectives is quite wide, and, of course, there is considerable disagreement reflected in competing accounts of the nature of law and legal systems. This range is expanded further in Part III (Topics and Disciplines) where a wide variety of general questions are considered against the background of law as an object of theoretical inquiry. The topics addressed in this part range from the familiar (e.g., authority) to matters of policy (e.g., overcriminalization). ... log in or subscribe to read full text