With over sixty cases as support, this text presents the philosophy of law as a perpetual series of debates with overlapping lines and cross connections. Using law as a focus to bring into relief many social and political issues of pressing importance in contemporary society, this book encourages readers to think critically and philosophically.
Classic Readings and Cases in the Philosophy of Law centers on five major questions:
What is law? What, if any, connection must there be between law and morality? When should law be used to restrict the liberty of individuals? To what extent should democratic states permit civil disobedience? What, if anything, justifies the infliction of punishment on those who violate the law?
The extensive anthology of cases covers the mundane to the grandest of constitutional issues, including controversial topics like ownership of genetic material, capital punishment, and gay rights. Brief introductions to each case describe the central issue being litigated, the legal reasoning of the justices both majority and dissenting the decision of the court, and its philosophical significance.

Inhalt
Part 1 What Is Law?; Chapter one Traditional Natural Law Theory; Chapter two Legal Positivism I; Chapter three American Legal Realism; Chapter four Legal Positivism II; Chapter five Law and Economics; Chapter six Feminist Jurisprudence; Part 2 The Separation Thesis, Legal Reasoning, and Legal Indeterminacy; Chapter seven The Separation of Law and Morality; Chapter eight The Morality of Law; Chapter nine Law as a System of Rights; Chapter ten Hart's Response to Dworkin; Chapter eleven Law as an Indeterminate Patchwork of Irreconcilable Ideologies; Part 3 Civil Disobedience and the Obligation to Obey Law; Chapter twelve The Duty to Oppose Injustice; Chapter thirteen Civil Disobedience and Conscientious Refusal; Chapter fourteen The Benefit of Challenging Uncertain Laws; Chapter fifteen Civil Disobedience and the Presumption of an Obligation to Obey the Law; Part 4 Law and Liberty; Chapter sixteen In Defense of Liberty; Chapter seventeen Paternalism; Chapter eighteen Legal Moralism; Chapter nineteen A Refutation of Legal Moralism; Part 5 Punishment; Chapter twenty A Utilitarian Account of Punishment; Chapter twenty-one Retributivism I; Chapter 22 Retributivism II; Chapter twenty-three Retributivism III; Chapter twenty-four Restitution; Chapter twenty-five Restorative Justice; Part 6 Constitutional Interpretation; Chapter twenty-six The Moral Reading of the Constitution;