Contents
Part I Introduction
1 The Roman Heritage...................................................................................... 3
2 Bonus Theoreticus, Malus Practicus?..........................................................
9Two Classics................................................................................................... 9
Toward Modern DSL................................................................................... 11
The Dual Nature of DSL............................................................................... 16
3 What Is the Doctrinal Study of Law?......................................................... 19
The Definition............................................................................................... 19
DSL and Adjudication................................................................................... 19
DSL and Sociology....................................................................................... 22
Part II The Foundations of Legal Thinking
4 Lawyer’s Dilemma....................................................................................... 27
5 On Language-Games.................................................................................... 31
Learning Language....................................................................................... 31
Language-Games.......................................................................................... 32
On Family Resemblance............................................................................... 34
Social Dimension of Language..................................................................... 35
Direct Experiences and Feelings.................................................................. 36
Form of Life..................................................................................................
376 The Foundations of Knowledge................................................................... 39
On Certainty.................................................................................................. 39
The Final Foundations of Knowledge........................................................... 40
The Role of the Form of Life........................................................................ 42
7 On the Ontology of Law............................................................................... 45
The Standard View........................................................................................ 45
On the Conventionalist Theory.................................................................... 47
Institutional Legal Theory............................................................................ 48
On Shared Mutual Beliefs............................................................................. 50
8 A Moral Point of View................................................................................. 53
Starting Point................................................................................................ 53
Moral Foundation of Law.............................................................................. 54
Moral Foundations of Legal Reasoning........................................................ 57
On Moderate Value Relativism..................................................................... 57
Prima Facie vs. all Things Considered........................................................ 59
Summary........................................................................................................ 62
9 The Three Notions of Liberty..................................................................... 65
The Traditional View................................................................................... 65
The Third Notion of Liberty..........................................................................
66Summary........................................................................................................ 69
Part III Between Realism and Idealism
10 What Is Science?......................................................................................... 73
A Positivistic View........................................................................................ 73
On the Criteria of Science............................................................................. 73
Further Analysis............................................................................................ 75
Summary........................................................................................................ 76
11 Legal Realism Reinterpreted.................................................................... 81
Alf Ross and the Scandinavian Realism....................................................... 81
Ross as a Logical Empiricist......................................................................... 83
Realist Ross................................................................................................... 84
What Is Law?................................................................................................ 85
On the Ideological Element of the Rossian Theory...................................... 88
A Critical View............................................................................................. 90
Ross and Hermeneutics................................................................................. 94
12 Outlines of the New Rhetoric..................................................................... 95
On the Background....................................................................................... 95
The Greek Rhetoric....................................................................................... 97
The Return of Rhetoric.................................................................................
99The Idea of New Rhetoric............................................................................ 100
Rhetoric and the Argumentation Theory................................................... 103
13 Scientific Inference - An Example........................................................... 105
Out of the Cave........................................................................................... 105
Origin........................................................................................................... 107
Content......................................................................................................... 107
The Interpretation of Archaeological Findings........................................... 107
The Structure of Reasoning......................................................................... 109
What About the Legal Reasoning?............................................................. 112
Part IV On the Doctrinal Study of Law
14 From the Constitutional State to the Welfare State.............................. 117
15 Two Types of Norms................................................................................. 119
Starting Point.............................................................................................. 119
On the Strong Demarcation Thesis............................................................ 119
Weak Demarcation Thesis.......................................................................... 120
A Step Further............................................................................................. 122
16 The Formal Validity, Efficacy, and Acceptability of Legal Norms. 125
On the Lexical Meaning of Validity........................................................... 125
Formal Validity.......................................................................................... 125
Efficacy.......................................................................................................
128Axiological Validity.................................................................................... 129
17 The Procedure of Legal Reasoning.......................................................... 131
On the Notion of Interpretation................................................................... 131
Meaning Propositions.................................................................................. 131
On Justification.......................................................................................... 133
Internal Justification.................................................................................... 134
External Justification.................................................................................. 134
The Structure of External Justification...................................................... 137
On the Notion of Rationality....................................................................... 139
The Preconditions of Rational Legal Discourse......................................... 142
On Coherence.............................................................................................. 144
18 The Sources of Law................................................................................... 147
The Doctrine of the Sources of Law........................................................... 147
The Normative Status of the Sources of Law............................................. 150
Strongly Binding Sources............................................................................ 151
The Statutes................................................................................................. 151
Non-national Sources of Law...................................................................... 152
Weakly Binding Sources of Law................................................................ 153
The Intention of the Legislator....................................................................
154Precedents.................................................................................................... 158
Permitted Sources........................................................................................ 160
Consequential Inference.............................................................................. 161
On principles as the Source of Law............................................................ 162
19 One Right Answer?................................................................................... 165
Final and Right Answer............................................................................... 165
Hercules J.................................................................................................... 166
Acceptance and Acceptability..................................................................... 170
Majority Principle....................................................................................... 172
20 On the Systematisation............................................................................ 177
The Need for Systematisation..................................................................... 177
The Theories in Law.................................................................................... 178
Reformulation of the System..................................................................... 179
21 Change or Development?........................................................................ 185
The Standard View...................................................................................... 185
Outlines of the Kuhnian Model................................................................... 185
Kuhn and the Social Sciences..................................................................... 191
Matrix of DSL............................................................................................. 192
Theoretical and Practical DSL.................................................................... 195
Change - How and When?........................................................................... 196
Bibliography...................................................................................................... 201
Name Index........................................................................................................ 215
Subject Index..................................................................................................... 219