The Philosophy of Law is a broad-reaching text that guides
readers through the basic analytical and normative issues in the
field, highlighting key historical and contemporary thinkers and
offering a unified treatment of the various issues in the
philosophy of law.

* * Enlivened with numerous, everyday examples to illustrate
various concepts of law.

* Employs the idea of three central commonplaces about law - that
law is a social matter, that law is authoritative, and that law is
for the common good - to organize seemingly disparate topics and to
bring rival views into contention with each other.

* The first volume in the Fundamentals of Philosophy
series, in which leading philosophers explore the fundamental
issues and core problems in the major sub-disciplines of
philosophy.

Mark C. Murphy is Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University, where he works in moral, political, and legal philosophy. He is the author of Natural Law and Practical Rationality (2001), An Essay on Divine Authority (2002), and Natural Law in Jurisprudence and Politics (2006), and the editor of Alasdair MacIntyre (2003).

Murphy frames the discussion with three central commonplaces about law: that it is authoritative, that it is a social matter, and that it is for the common good. Enlivened with numerous everyday examples, this text is an important resource for students coming to the subject for the first time.

• 
  
• Enlivened with numerous, everyday examples to illustrate various concepts of law.
  
• Employs the idea of three central commonplaces about law - that law is a social matter, that law is authoritative, and that law is for the common good - to organize seemingly disparate topics and to bring rival views into contention with each other.
  
• The first volume in the Fundamentals of Philosophy series, in which leading philosophers explore the fundamental issues and core problems in the major sub-disciplines of philosophy.

Acknowledgments.

Introduction.

0.1 Philosophy, the Familiar, and the Unfamiliar.

0.2 What Are Our Commonplaces About Law?.

0.3 The Course of Our Inquiry.

For Further Reading.

Chapter 1: Analytical Fundamentals: The Concept of Law.

1.1 The Question, and its Importance.

1.2 Basic Austinianism.

1.3 Positivist Lessons.

1.4 Hartian Positivism.

1.5 Interlude: Hard and Soft Positivisms.

1.6 Natural Law Theory.

1.7 Fuller's Procedural Natural Law Theory.

1.8 Aquinas's Substantive Natural Law Theory.

1.9 A Suggested Resolution.

Appendix: Why is it Called "Natural Law Theory"?.

For Further Reading.

Chapter 2: Normative Fundamentals: The Basic Roles of Paradigmatic Legal Systems.

2.1 What are the Basic Roles of Paradigmatic Legal Systems?.

2.2 The Role of Subject.

2.3 The Role of Legislator.

2.4 The Role of Judge.

For Further Reading.

Chapter 3: The Aims of Law.

3.1 The Aims of Law and the Common Good.

3.2 The Harm-to-others Principle.

3.3 Challenges to the Harm-to-others Principle: Types of Harm.

3.4 Challenges to the Harm-to-others Principle: The Party Armed.

3.5 Morals Legislation.

For Further Reading.

4 The Nature and Aims of the Criminal Law.

4.1 Types of Legal Norms.

4.2 Crime and Punishment.

4.3 Two Normative Theories of Punishment.

4.4 Justification and Excuse.

For Further Reading.

5 The Nature and Aims of Tort Law.

5.1 Torts and Crimes.

5.2 Torts and Damages.

5.3 Economic and Justice Accounts of Negligence Torts.

5.4 Elements of the Negligence Tort.

5.5 Damages.

5.6 Intentional Torts and Torts of Strict Liability.

For Further Reading.

6 Challenging the Law.

6.1 Putting Legal Roles to the Question.

6.2 Against the Role of Subject: Philosophical Anarchism.

6.3 Against the Role of Legislator: Marxism / Feminist Legal Theory / Critical Race Theory.

6.4 Against the Role of Judge: American Legal Realism / Critical Legal studies.

For Further Reading.

Index.