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Theories of Legal Obligation

  • Book
  • © 2024

Overview

Editors:
  1. Deryck Beyleveld

    1. Durham Law School, Durham University, Durham, UK

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Stefano Bertea

    1. Department of Law, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Offers original approaches to the concept of legal obligation
  • Presents innovative studies on the normative dimension of law
  • Addresses in depth the obligatory force of law

Part of the book series: Law and Philosophy Library (LAPS, volume 146)

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-v
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  2. Introduction

    • Deryck Beyleveld, Stefano Bertea
    Pages 1-3

  3. What a Legal Obligation Is

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 5-5
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    2. Towards a Minimal Concept of Legal Obligation

      • Lorenz Kaehler
      Pages 7-26

    3. What Is a Legal Obligation?

      • Stefano Bertea
      Pages 27-57

  4. Theoretical Perspectives on Legal Obligation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 59-59
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    2. Why Any Legal Positivist Idea of Legal Obligation Is Untenable: A Kantian-Gewirthian Synthesis

      • Deryck Beyleveld
      Pages 61-97

    3. Gustav Radbruch’s Theory of Legal Obligation

      • Martin Borowski
      Pages 99-122

  5. Forms of Legal Obligation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 123-123
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    2. Is There a Legal Duty Not to Harm in Tort Law?

      • Diego M. Papayannis
      Pages 125-150

    3. Reflections on the Justifiability of Authority: Raz vs. Wolff

      • Noam Gur
      Pages 151-168
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Keywords

About this book

This volume collects six original essays by internationally respected researchers who have devoted themselves to the study of legal obligation. It brings together works that innovatively address key dimensions of the current debates concerning legal obligation from different and, in some cases, even opposing theoretical perspectives. As a result, the collection offers a comprehensive discussion of legal obligation that promises to significantly advance our understanding of the obligatory dimension of law. What specifically connects the contributions gathered here is one common thread: coming to terms with a notion – legal obligation – that is of both practical and theoretical importance. On the one hand, it is widely regarded as a fundamental legal concept by legal practitioners and laypeople alike, as not only judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and juries but also ordinary citizens make extensive use of obligation-related terms and discourses. On the other hand, the notion of legal obligation is of paramount significance for the theory of law. Indeed, even legal theorists who, quite understandably, refuse to reduce the law to a mere obligation-imposing device and opt instead for a view in which the normative dimension of the law also encompasses powers, rights, permissions, privileges and immunities, duly acknowledge the centrality of legal obligation for the understanding and conceptualisation of law. Hence the importance of the treatments presented in this volume.


Editors and Affiliations

  • Durham Law School, Durham University, Durham, UK

    Deryck Beyleveld

  • Department of Law, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Stefano Bertea

About the editors

Deryck Beyleveld, BSc. Hons (Rand), MA (Cantab), PhD (UEA), FSB, Professor of Law and Bioethics. His numerous publications span Criminology, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Moral and Legal Philosophy, and many areas of law. He has a special interest in the moral philosophies of Alan Gewirth and Kant and their applications to many areas of law. From 2008-2017, he also held a part-time Chair in Moral Philosophy and Applied Ethics at the University of Utrecht. 

Stefano Bertea, is an Associate Professor of law. In his academic career, he has been a Marie Skłodowska-Curie research fellow at the University of Edinburgh and at the University of Frankfurt, a DFG research fellow at the University of Frankfurt am Main, and an Alexander von Humboldt research fellow at the University of Kiel. The output of his research work has been published in the form of several monographs, edited volumes, articles in prestigious specialist journals, and book chapters.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Theories of Legal Obligation

  • Editors: Deryck Beyleveld, Stefano Bertea

  • Series Title: Law and Philosophy Library

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54067-7

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Law and Criminology, Law and Criminology (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-54066-0Published: 07 April 2024

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-54069-1Due: 08 May 2024

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-54067-7Published: 06 April 2024

  • Series ISSN: 1572-4395

  • Series E-ISSN: 2215-0315

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: V, 168

  • Topics: Theories of Law, Philosophy of Law, Legal History, Philosophy of Law

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