Legal theorists consider their discipline as an objective endeavour in line with other fields of science. Objectivity in science is generally regarded as a fundamental condition, informing how science should be practised and how truths may be found. Objective scientists venture to uncover empirical truths about the world and ought to eliminate personal biases, prior commitments and emotional involvement. However, legal theorists are inevitably bound up with a given legal culture. Consequently, their scholarly work derives at least in part from this environment and their subtle interaction with it. This book questions critically, in novel ways and from various perspectives, the possibilities of objectivity of legal theory in the twenty-first century. It transpires that legal theory is unavoidably confronted with varying conceptions of law, underlying ideologies, approaches to legal method, argumentation and discourse etc, which limit the possibilities of 'objectivity' in law and in legal reasoning. The authors of this book reveal some of these underlying notions and discuss their consequences for legal theory.
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This book questions critically, in novel ways and from various perspectives, the possibilities of objectivity of legal theory in the 21st century.

I. Introduction
1. Objectivity in Law and Jurisprudence
Mark Van Hoecke
II. Objectivity of Legal Theory
2. Can Legal Theory Be Objective?
Jaap Hage
3. The Impossibility of an Outsider's Perspective
Pauline C Westerman
III. Legal Reasoning
4. Objective Legal Reasoning—Objectivity Without Objects
Matti Ilmari Niemi
5. Legal Certainty as an Element of Objectivity in Law
Juha Raitio
6. Objective Rules of Argumentation
Bertjan Wolthuis
7. Easy Cases and Objective Interpretation
Niko Soininen
IV. Human Behaviour and its Objective Foundation
8. Can Inalienable Rights Provide an Objective Foundation for Law and Morality?
Maija Aalto-Heinilä
9. Objectivity and the Law's Assumptions about Human Behaviour
Péter Cserne
V. (Legal) Cultures
10. Kaleidoscopic Cultural Views and Legal Theory—Dethroning the Objectivity?
Jaakko Husa
11. Translators and Legal Comparatists as Objective Mediators between Cultures?
Caroline Laske
12. Legal Science Challenged by Cultural Paradigms: 'Subjective Objectivity' in Legal Scholarship
Mustapha El Karouni

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The essays in the collection come from a variety of perspectives and seek to highlight that legal theory is unavoidably confronted with varying conceptions of law which limit the possibilities of 'objectivity' in law and in legal reasoning.

Written by experts in the field this book will be interesting reading for legal theorists.

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Original works on legal theory.
This series, published under the auspices of the European Academy of Legal Theory, encompasses original works on legal theory, including the winner of the European Award for Legal Theory. This is an award made biennially to the author of the best European doctoral thesis in the area of legal theory and philosophy of law.

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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781849464413
Publisert
2013
Utgiver
Vendor
Hart Publishing
Vekt
572 gr
Høyde
234 mm
Bredde
156 mm
Dybde
15 mm
Aldersnivå
P, U, 06, 05
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
278

Biografisk notat

Jaakko Husa is Professor of Legal Culture and Legal Linguistics at the University of Lapland.
Mark Van Hoecke is Research Professor of Legal Theory and Comparative Law at the University of Ghent.