The Concept of Ideals in Legal Theory

Talk about law often includes reference to ideals of justice, equality or freedom. But what do we refer to when we speak about ideals in the context of law? This book explores the concept of ideals by combining an investigation of different theories of ideals with a discussion of the role of ideals in law. A comparison of the theories of Gustav Radbruch and Philip Selznick leads up to a pragmatist theory of legal ideals, which provides an interesting new position in the debate about values in law between legal positivists and natural law thinkers. Attention for law's central ideals enables us to understand law's autonomous character, while at the same time tracing its connection to societal values.
Essential reading for anyone interested in the role of values or ideals in law.

Acknowledgements. 1: Ideals in Legal Theory: An Introduction. 1. Common Sense Understandings. 2. Ideals and Values. 3. MORAL iDEALS, lEGAL iDEALS. 4. Ideals, Principles and Rules. 5. The Aims and Structure of this Book. 2: Two Concepts of Ideals. 1. An Ontological Distinction. 2. Ideals as Transcendent. 3. Ideals as immanent. 4. The Merits of the Two Concepts. 3: The Theory of Gustav Radbruch. 1. Introduction. 2. Radbruch's General Philosophical Views. 3. Legal Philosophy and Legal Science. 4 From Legal Positivism to Natural Law? Radbruch's turn. 4: Radbruch on Ideals. 1. Introduction. 2. The Nature of Values. 3. Values and Reality. 4. The Interaction of Values. 5. The Role of Values in Law. 6. The Concept of Ideals. 7. Conclusions. 5: The Theory of Philip Selznik. 1. Introduction. 2. The Influence of Pragmatism: Selznik's Method. 3. Selznik's Social Thought. 4. Legal Theory. 6: Selznik on Ideals. 1. Introduction. 2. The Nature of Ideals. 3. The Latency of Values. 4. Master Ideals. 5. Ideals and Law. 6. Conclusions. 7: Developing a Concept of Ideals for Legal Theory. 1. Different Concepts. 2. Evaluating Radbruch and Selznik. 3. Improving the Pragmatist Theory of Values. 4. Developing a Theory of Legal Ideals. 5. Conclusions. 8: Recognizing the Ideals of Law: Beyond Legal Positivism and Natural Law Theory. 1. The Aims of This Chapter. 2. The Debate Between Legal Positivism and Natural Law Theory. 3. Evaluating the Different Positions. 4. Radbruch and Selznik as Non-Positivists. 5. The Promise of a Pragmatist Theory. References. Index