On the Value of Jurisprudence
32 Pages Posted: 6 Oct 2015
Date Written: 2011
Abstract
As Scott Shapiro wryly observes in his excellent recent book, Legality, “one doesn't need especially acute powers of social observation to be aware that analytical jurisprudence is not everyone's cup of tea.” Shapiro's book challenges this common sentiment. Shapiro develops an original and ambitious theory of law, and does so with a clarity of expression that makes it engaging and accessible to readers not fluent in jurisprudential jargon. Along the way, Shapiro directly addresses the skeptical view of the value of analytical jurisprudence by arguing that the nature of law in general is of crucial importance to determining the content of law in particular cases.
The central claim of Legality is that law is best understood as an intricate system of plans that allows us to resolve the serious moral problems that arise from communal life in large, complex societies. In the course of presenting and defending this claim, Shapiro positions his theory within the tradition of legal positivism and responds to several prominent critiques from natural law. The result is therefore a guided tour of much of the terrain of Anglophone jurisprudence, with lucid descriptions of theorists including H.L.A. Hart, John Austin, Lon Fuller, and Ronald Dworkin. As such, Shapiro's book provides the jurisprudential rookie with an introduction to both the historical debates and the contemporary disputes in analytical jurisprudence, disputes that have already begun to include the “Planning Theory of Law.”
Legality has much to offer jurisprudential veterans as well. For it is not merely an introductory treatise, in either intent or execution. It involves, first and foremost, the development of a sophisticated and comprehensive theory of the nature of law -- one that, Shapiro argues, resolves questions that, up until now, legal positivism has found impossible to answer. While, as I argue below, Shapiro's arguments are not always successful, he nonetheless presents a stimulating, evocative, and ambitious theory of law that adds a fresh dimension to the modern jurisprudential discourse.
Keywords: jurisprudence, legal theory, positivism, planning theory, Scott Shapiro
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