Institutions of Law An Essay in Legal Theory

Author: Neil MacCormick
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780199535439
Published In: February 2008
Format: Paperback , 336 pages
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

Out of stock

Description
Contents
Author
Reviews

Details

This book marks the long awaited definitive statement of Sir Neil MacCormick's distinctive theory of law as 'institutional normative order'

Using the framework of 'institutional normative order', MacCormick provides a rigorous analysis of the role of law in our society, showing how law creates the conditions for social peace and a functioning economy

Institutions of Law offers an original account of the nature of law and legal systems in the contemporary world. It provides the definitive statement of Sir Neil MacCormick's well-known 'institutional theory of law', defining law as 'institutional normative order' and explaining each of these three terms in depth. It attempts to fulfil the need for a twenty-first century introduction to legal theory marking a fresh start such as was achieved in the last century by H. L. A. Hart's The Concept of Law.

It is written with a view to elucidating law, legal concepts, and legal institutions in a manner that takes account of current scholarly controversies but does not get bogged down in them. It shows how law relates to the State and civil society, establishing the conditions of social peace and a functioning economy. In so doing, it takes account of recent developments in the sociology of law, particularly 'system theory'. It also seeks to clarify the nature of claims to 'knowledge of law' and thus indicate the possibility of legal studies having a genuinely 'scientific' character. It shows that there is an essential value-orientation of all work of this kind, so that valid analytical jurisprudence not merely need not, but cannot, be 'positivist' as that term has come to be understood. Nevertheless, it is explained why law and morality are genuinely distinct by virtue of the positive character of law contrasted with the autonomy that is foundational for morality.

Readership: Scholars and students of jurisprudence, legal theory and legal, social and political philosophy.

Preface

Acknowledgements

Part I: Norm, Institution and Order

1: On Normative Order

2: On Institutional Order

3: Law and the Constitutional State

4: A Problem: Rules or Habits?

Part II: Legal Positions and Relations

5: On Persons

6: Wrongs and Duties

7: Rights and Obligations

8: Legal Relations and Things: Property

9: Legal Powers and Validity

Part III: Law State and Civil Society

10: Powers and Public Law: Law and Politics

11: Constraints on Power: Fundamental Rights

12: Criminal Law and Civil Society: Law and Morality

13: Private Law and Civil Society: Law and Economy

Part IV: Law, Value and Method

14: Positive Law and Moral Autonomy

15: On Law and Justice

16: Laws and Values: Reflections on Method

Neil MacCormick, Formerly Regius Professor of Public Law and the Law of Nature and Nations, the University of Edinburgh

"MacCormick's general theory of law finds his most detailed expression in Institutions of Law. This book...is an elucidation of the concept of law as a kind of institutional normative order realised prominently...in the modern state."