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Overview"Because both morally deficient and morally-minded citizens need rules to help them minimise the errors of unconstrained reasoning, someone must have final authority to determine, by means of general rules, what should be done in a wide range of legal cases. In The Rule of Rules Larry Alexander and Emily Sherwin examine this central role of authoritative rules in settling moral controversies within a society that tends to resist unquestioning obedience to authority. In the process, they help to resolve some of the great debates of modern jurisprudence. Once the importance of rules is understood, the authors claim, the moral and practical dilemmas posed by authoritative rules become the central problems of jurisprudence. Reason dictates that we must follow rules if we wish to avoid destructive error and controversy; however, rules are imperfect, and reason also dictates that we ought not follow rules when we believe they produce the wrong result in a particular case. Given the possibility of erroneous judgement about when the results of rules are wrong, an unavoidable gap exists between what the rule-maker has reason to demand and what his subjects have reason to do. Alexander and Sherwin work through the parallel dilemma that lies at the heart of such ongoing jurisprudential controversies as how judges should reason in deciding cases, what effect should be given to legal precedent, and what status, if any, should be accorded to ""legal principles."" In the end, their rigorous discussion sheds light on such topics as the murky nature of interpretation, the ancient dispute between positivists and natural lawyers, the obligation to obey law, constitutionalism, and the relation between law and coercion. Those interested in jurisprudence, legal theory, and political philosophy will benefit from the edifying discussion in The Rule of Rules." Full Product DetailsAuthor: Larry Alexander , Emily SherwinPublisher: Duke University Press Imprint: Duke University Press Dimensions: Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.70cm , Length: 22.80cm Weight: 0.630kg ISBN: 9780822327363ISBN 10: 0822327368 Pages: 288 Publication Date: 06 August 2001 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Part I. The Circumstances of Law 1. Disagreement, Uncertainty, and Authoritative Settlement 2. Settlement Requisites and the Nature of Authoritative Rules 3. Hierarchies of Rules Part II. Acting Under Rules 4. The Problem of Rules 5. Interpretation of Rules Part III. Issues of Legal Reasoning 6. Reasoning by Analogy 7. Reasoning in Light of Precedent 8. Reasoning from Legal Principles Part IV. The Settlement Function and Jurisprudential Debates 9. Legal Positivism and Natural Law 10. Lex, Rules, and Some Miscellaneous Problems of Jurisprudence Notes IndexReviewsAccessible to the non-specialist, the arguments found in The Rule of Rules are clearly made and well-illustrated with concrete examples. The authors address a large number of topics and takes up controversial positions on most. This will make an important contribution to on-going jurisprudential debates. - Mark Tushnet, Georgetown University Law Center Accessible to the non-specialist, the arguments found in The Rule of Rules are clearly made and well-illustrated with concrete examples. The authors address a large number of topics and take up controversial positions on most. This will make an important contribution to ongoing jurisprudential debates. -Mark Tushnet, Georgetown University Law Center This book not only substantially advances our understanding of the nature of rules themselves, but is by some margin the best treatment there is of the relationship between rules and law. In an era in which context, flexibility, and discretion are often uncritically celebrated, this book throws down the gauntlet for a rule-based understanding of law. No one who is interested in the nature of legal reasoning and legal decision-making can afford to ignore this book, and no one who is skeptical about the importance of rules to law can avoid the challenges that Alexander and Sherwin present. -Frederick Schauer, Harvard University Author InformationLarry Alexander is Warren Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of San Diego. Emily Sherwin is Professor of Law at the University of San Diego. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |