This book, originally published in 1959, makes explicit the social principles which underlie the procedures and political practice of the modern democratic state. The authors take the view that in the modern welfare state there are porblems connected with the nature of law, with concepts like rights, justice, equality, property, punishment, responsibility and liberty and which modern philosophical techniques can illuminate.

S. I. BENN (Australian National University, Canberra) and R. S. PETERS (Professor of The Philosophy of Education, University of London Institute of Education)

Selected Contents: Part I: Society: Its Rules and Their Validity 1. Society and Types of Social Regulation. 2.Moral Theory. 3.Legal Theory. 4.Rights. Part II: Social Principles and Their Implementation 5.Justice and Equality. 6.Justice and the Distribution of Income. 7. Property. 8. Punishment. 9. Freedom and Responsibility. 10.Freedom as a Political Ideal. Part III: Principles of Association and the Democratic State 11. Individuals in Association. 12. Sovereignty and the Moral Basis of State Supremacy. 13. The State and Other Associations. 14. The Grounds of Authority and Political Obligation. 15. Democracy. Appendix International Relations.