The increasing transnationalisation of regulation - and social life more generally - challenges the basic concepts of legal and political theory today. One of the key concepts being so challenged is authority. This discerning book offers a plenitude of resources and suggestions for meeting that challenge. Chapters by leading scholars from a wide variety of disciplines confront the limits of traditional state-based conceptions of authority, and propose new frameworks and metaphors. They also reflect on the methodological challenges of the transnational context, including the need for...

Presenting a critique of conventional methods in comparative law, this book argues that, for comparative law to qualify as a discipline, comparatists must reflect on how and why they make comparisons. Gunter Frankenberg discusses not only methods and theories, but also the ethical implications and the politics of comparative law in bringing out the different dimensions of the discipline. Comparative Law as Critique offers various approaches that turn against the academic discourse of comparative law, including analysis of a widespread spirit of innocence in terms of method, and critique of...

Augustine posed two questions that go to the heart of the nature of law. Firstly, what is the difference between a kingdom and a band of robbers? Secondly, is an unjust law a law at all? These two questions force us to consider whether law is simply a means of social control, distinguished from a band of robbers only by its size, or whether law is a social institution justified by its orientation towards justice. The End of Law applies Augustine's questions to modern legal philosophy as well as offering a critical theory of natural law that draws on Augustine's ideas. McIlroy argues that...

This unique book provides a versatile exploration of the philosophical foundations of the insanity defense. It examines the connections between numerous philosophical-anthropological views and analyses different methods for regulating the criminal responsibility of the mentally ill. Placing its philosophical analysis firmly in the context of science, it draws on the fields of cognitive psychology, evolutionary theory and criminology. In this thought-provoking book, Wojciech Zaluski argues that the way in which we resolve the problem of the criminal responsibility of the mentally ill...