The Long Arc of Legality
Hobbes, Kelsen, Hart

Explores how the central question of philosophy of law is the legal subject's: how can that be law for me?

David Dyzenhaus (Author)

9781009048866, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 March 2023

489 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm, 0.702 kg

'There are few works in contemporary legal philosophy that match its standards of quality and innovation. Dyzenhaus's book combines the virtues of originality and insight, which are typical of authors like Dworkin and Raz, with the equally important virtues of discipline, sensitivity to historical context, interdisciplinarity, and generosity in the interpretation of other authors …' Thomas Bustamante, JOTWELL

The Long Arc of Legality breaks the current deadlock in philosophy of law between legal positivism and natural law by showing that any understanding of law as a matter of authority must account for the interaction of enacted law with fundamental principles of legality. This interaction conditions law's content so that officials have the moral resources to answer the legal subject's question, 'But, how can that be law for me?' David Dyzenhaus brings Thomas Hobbes and Hans Kelsen into a dialogue with H. L. A. Hart, showing that philosophy of law must work with the idea of legitimate authority and its basis in the social contract. He argues that the legality of international law and constitutional law are integral to the main tasks of philosophy of law, and that legal theory must attend both to the politics of legal space and to the way in which law provides us with a 'public conscience'.

1. The Puzzle of Very Unjust Law I: Hart and Dworkin
2. The Puzzle of Very Unjust Law II: Hobbes
3. The Constitution of Legal Authority/The Authority of Legal Constitutions
4. The Janus-Faced Constitution
5. The Politics of Legal Space
6. Legality's Promise
Appendix I. Exclusive and Inclusive Legal Positivism
Appendix II. Kantian Private Law Theory
Appendix III. John Finnis and 'Schmittean Logic'.

Subject Areas: Constitutional & administrative law [LND], Jurisprudence & philosophy of law [LAB], Political science & theory [JPA], History of ideas [JFCX], Social & political philosophy [HPS]