Despite persistent criticism from a variety of different perspectives including natural law, legal realism and socio-legal studies, legal positivism remains as an enduring theory of law. The essays contained in this volume represent the most balanced responses toward legal positivism and although largely sympathetic, the essays do not fail to criticize elements of the tradition wherever appropriate.

The study of law is a branch of the study of politics. Even those who emphasize the autonomy of law, either sociologically or normatively, must acknowledge that this is a position that requires justification within a broader theory of politics that either explains or justifies this autonomy. Inevitably, therefore, developments in political life and in political philosophy have a significant effect on the practice of law and its theoretical study. Currently this relationship is evident in the impact of recent developments in the practice and theory of democracy that are redolent with...

This volume collects some of the best writings on Spinoza's philosophy of law and includes a critical examination of Spinoza's theory of the types of law, his natural law theory, as well as the modern reformulation of his approach to the nature of laws and to natural rights. This collection of essays (some of which are published in the English language for the very first time) shows how Spinoza was able to deliver a revolutionary idea of natural law that breaks away from the traditions of natural law and of legal positivism. The bulk of Spinoza's references to law derive from his metaphysical...

The central focus of this collection of essays is the role and place of freedom of religion in the protection and promotion of world order. The volume offers competing models of world order from a global perspective and highlights the lack of consensus and considerable variety of practice and belief around the globe as to the definition of religious freedom and where and whether freedom of religion is regarded as the first freedom in the world. The leading theories of freedom of religion are discussed and provide an understanding of freedom of religion beyond the nation state. The liberal...

The essays collected in this volume reflect the profound impact of Martha Nussbaum's philosophical writings on law and legal scholarship. The capabilities approach that she has largely authored has influenced the approach scholars take to the law of disabilities, both in the United States and in Canada, as well as to international human rights and to domestic private law's protections of vulnerable populations. Her analyses of the relationship between our emotions and our thought and action has triggered a re-assessment of the legal regulation and recognition of emotion in a range of fields,...

This collection of scholarly articles takes as its subject matter discourses on environmental justice. The concept emerged in recent decades as an important framing concept for a wide variety of environmental movements and objectives, and has gained considerable currency due to the scope and normative force that its principles contain, whether in legal, political, or philosophical applications. This collection is an invaluable resource for researchers and scholars in this field given that the multiple theories and analyses of environmental justice are likely to remain central to the ongoing...