A Theory of Legal Obligation

Bertea puts forward a comprehensive and original theory of legal obligation, understood as a distinctive legal concept.

Stefano Bertea (Author)

9781108475105, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 3 October 2019

376 pages
23.5 x 15.6 x 2.5 cm, 0.67 kg

The focus of this monograph lies in the construction of a theory of legal obligation, understanding it as a discrete notion with its own defining traits. In this work, Bertea specifically addresses the question: how should legal obligation be distinctively conceptualized? The conceptualization of legal obligation he defends in this work gradually emerges from a critical assessment of the theories of legal obligation that have been most influential in the contemporary legal-theoretical debate. Building on such critical analysis, Bertea's study purports to offer a novel and unconventional conceptualization of legal obligation, which is characterized as a law-engendered intersubjective reason for carrying out certain courses of conduct.

Introduction
1. The concept of obligation
2. Contemporary approaches to legal obligations: a preliminary map
3. The social-practice account
4. The interpretivist account
5. The conventionalist reason account
6. The exclusionary reason account
7. A revisionary Kantian conception
8. Further dimensions of the revisionary Kantian conception
9. The robust reason account
10. The method of presuppositional interpretation
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Jurisprudence & philosophy of law [LAB], Jurisprudence & general issues [LA]