Essays on Robert Alexy's legal philosophy

Institutionalized Reason
The Jurisprudence of Robert Alexy

Ed. by Matthias Klatt

(Oxford University Press, 2012)

384 pages



Description

This volume gathers leading figures from legal philosophy and constitutional theory to offer a critical examination of the work of Robert Alexy. The contributions explore the issues surrounding the complex relations between rights, law, and morality and reflect on Alexy's distinctive work on these issues.

The focus across the contributions is on Alexy's main pre-occupations - his anti-positivist views on the nature of law, his approach to the nature of legal reasoning, and his understanding of constitutional rights as legal principles. In an extended response to the contributions in the volume, Alexy develops his views on these central issues.

The contributions are based on papers presented at a symposium at Oxford University in September 2008.

Content

1. Matthias Klatt - Robert Alexy's Philosophy of Law as System

Section 1: The Nature of Law

2. John Gardner - How Law Claims, What Law Claims [pdf]
3. Mark C. Murphy - Defect and Deviance in Natural Law Jurisprudence
4. Stanley L. Paulson - A 'Justified Normativity' Thesis in Hans Kelsen's Pure Theory of Law?

Section 2: The Nature of Constitutional Rights

5. Larry Alexander - Legal Objectivity and the Illusion of Legal Principles
6. T.R.S. Allan - Constitutional Rights and the Rule of Law
7. Matthias Jestaedt - The Doctrine of Balancing
8. Jan Henrik Klement - Common Law Thinking in German Jurisprudence
9. Mattias Kumm - Alexy's Theory of Constitutional Rights and the Problem of Judicial Review
10. Ralf Poscher - The Principles Theory
11. Julian Rivers - Constitutional Rights and Statutory Limitations

Section 3: The Nature of Legal Argumentation

12. Maeve Cooke - The Dual Character of Concepts and the Discourse Theory of Law
13. Cristina Lafont - Correctness and Legitimacy in the Discourse Theory of Law
14. Frederick Schauer - Balancing, Subsumption, and the Constraining Role of Legal Text

Section 4: Comments and Responses

15. Robert Alexy - Comments and Responses

Matthias Klatt is a Professor of Public Law at the University of Hamburg, Germany. He is the author of "Making the Law Explicit. The Normativity of Legal Argumentation" (Hart Publishing, 2008).