A personalist jurisprudence the next step a person-centered philosophy of law for the twenty-first century

Synopsis

"Thoughtful analysis of the history of American jurisprudence during the twentieth century reveals a piecemeal, step-by-step recovery of a role for the person following the great reorganization of law around principles and rules in the late nineteenth century. The next logical step for the twenty-first century is an explicitly person-centered philosophy of law. The purpose of this book is to construct a person-centered interpretation of American law and method for judicial decision making, and argue for its legitimacy while drawing on and remaining in conversation with the mainstream of American jurisprudential thought." "Judges will find this book useful. Lawyers will find it stimulating reading. Law students should take it home for summer reading, argue with it, compare it with the interpretations of law offered in law school classes and extra-curricular organizations. Graduate students in political science, philosophy or in other disciplines concerned with law and society will find it interesting and an inspiration for papers and scholarly work. Those who disagree with the book may nevertheless find useful ideas in it. Examples include the critique of many current methods of Constitutional interpretation as refusals to deliberate; the argument for the unconstitutionality of capital punishment and the sub-chapter on rethinking criminal justice; and, centrally, the analysis of the great quarrel over method."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved