Analytical jurisprudence has been mostly silent on the role of precedent in legal adjudication. What is the content of a judge's precedent ideology, or the rule of precedent-recognition, by means of which the ratio of a case is to be distinguished from mere dicta? In this study, the author identifies six types of judicial precedent-ideology, and tests them against judicial experiences in the UK, US, France, Italy, Germany and Finland. The author suggests a redefinition of Lon Fuller's internal morality of law, and confronts fundamental questions about the normative nature of law. Is Kelsen's...

Grounded in linguistic philosophy and Carnapian semantics, this book's innovative contribution to analytical jurisprudence also addresses the issues of institutional philosophy, social pragmatism, and legal principles as envisioned by Dworkin, among others.