This book focuses on a specific component of the normative dimension of law, namely, law's normative claim. By 'normative claim, ' meaning the claim that, inherent in the law, is an ability to guide action by generating practical reasons having a special status. The thesis that law lays the normative claim has become a subject of controversy. It has its defenders, as well as many scholars of different orientations who have acknowledged the normative claim of law without making a point of defending it head-on. It has also come under attack from other contemporary legal theorists and a lively...