Scholars of the Law

Author: Richard A. Cosgrove
Publisher: Universal Law Publishing
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 262
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8175345624

Description

Law has been the missing link in modern British studies. Richard Cosgrove has begun single-handedly to change that. In unpretentious prose Cosgrove expertly guides the reader through the major works of half a dozen 'greats' as well as shrewdly assessing their current reputations. Scholars of the Law should inspire many more!

--John V. Orth, The University of North Carolina School of Law

Richard Cosgrove's Scholars of the Law begins with the emergence of the positivist belief that jurisprudence can solve the important social issues of the day. Legal theory in the twentieth century has become narrow and abstract, and contemporary theory, ever anxious to debunk elitism, ironically has become elitist itself.

Charting the history of English jurisprudence through its key figures--William Blackstone, Jeremy Bentham, John Austin, Henry Maine, Thomas Erskine Holland, and H. L. A. Hart--Richard Cosgrove argues that jurisprudence must return to its interdisciplinary roots and draw upon economics, politics, and sociology. In short, theory and practice must be recombined.

Contents

Acknowledgments


From Jurisprudence to Legal Philosophy

Sir William Blackstone: The Intersection
Of Positivism and Natural Law Theory

Jeremy Bentham: The Light of utility

John Austin: "The Matter of Jurisprudence
Is Positive Law"

Sir Henry Maine: Historical Jurisprudence
And social Reform

Sir Thomas Erskine Holland: The
Transition to Modern Academic Law

H.L.A. Hart Law and Morality
Reconsidered

Conclusion



Notes

Bibliography

Index