Law and morality Book

Since the publication of the first edition in 1996 and the second in 2001, Law and Morality has filled a long-standing need for a contemporary Canadian textbook in the philosophy of law. Now in its third edition, this essential volume has been significantly revised and updated and includes new chapters on equality, judicial review, and terrorism and the rule of law. The collection begins with general questions about morality and law, canvassing the traditional literature on legal positivism and contemporary debates about the connection between law and morality. Essays explore the tensions between law as a protector of individual liberty and as a tool of democratic self-rule and introduce debates about adjudication and the contribution of feminist approaches to philosophy of law. New material on the Chinese Canadian head tax case is also included. The second part of Law and Morality deals with philosophical questions as they apply to contemporary issues. Excerpts from judicial decisions are used throughout in order to make concrete the theoretical issues, as are essays by lawyers that provide theoretically informed legal analyses of the issues. Striking a balance between practical problems and the more analytic, philosophical frameworks, Law and Morality's treatment of the philosophy of law as a branch of political philosophy enables students to understand law in its function as a social institution. It is a valuable text in both departments of philosophy and faculties of law and this third, much-expanded edition brings the debates fully up to date, filling gaps in the first and second editions, and adding to the array of contemporary issues.