Challenging the prevailing understanding of the authority of law, Daniel Mark offers a theory of moral obligation that is rooted both in command and in the law's orientation to the common good. When and why do we have an obligation to obey the law? Prevailing theories in the philosophy of law, starting with the work of H. L. A. Hart and Joseph ......
Thomistic Juridical Realism and the Elements of Law's Ontology
This is a book about the nature of the reality or the phenomenon referred to as "law" by lawyers and legal officials, but also by members of communities living under law, to the extent that they conceptualize the realm of "law" as something sufficiently distinguishable from other different or broader realities and phenomena. The book belongs to ......
A rigorous but accessible overview of the new natural law account of ethics and political philosophy. The foundational principles of ethics and politics are principles that guide us to respect and promote human flourishing. In Ethics, Politics, and Natural Law Melissa Moschella provides an accessible explanation and development of the new ......
This collection of essays constitutes the fruit of a scholarly conference held in Rome in April 2023, which was organized by the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, and the Angelicum Thomistic Institute. The essays offer a scholarly reflection on various historical and doctrinal aspects of ......
Challenging the prevailing understanding of the authority of law, Daniel Mark offers a theory of moral obligation that is rooted both in command and in the law's orientation to the common good. When and why do we have an obligation to obey the law? Prevailing theories in the philosophy of law, starting with the work of H. L. A. Hart and Joseph ......
The Making of a Democratic Jurisprudence from John Marshall to Stephen G. Breyer
In the current legal climate where "everyone is an originalist," conventional wisdom suggests that judges merely find law, rather than make it. Orthodox common-law jurisprudence makes fidelity to the past the central goal and criterion. By contrast, the alternative approach, "reading the law forward"-what some call judicial pragmatism or ......
An Introduction to Natural Law Jurisprudence in American ConstitutionalHistory
In Freedom's Anchor, famed legal commentator Judge Andrew P. Napolitano makes the case for using natural law principles to restrain government. Going back to Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas, Judge Napolitano identifies the origins of Natural Law Theory and explains its growth and development in English and American law. He argues compellingly ......
The Originalist Jurisprudence of Hugo Black, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas
Adherents of originalism often present it as a theory that constrains legal decision-making in a clear and objective manner that is based on the text and original meaning of the Constitution, in contrast to the supposedly subjective and "activist" jurisprudence of those who promote a living Constitution. But originalists have not had the same ......
Prospects for a Dialogue with Contemporary Legal Theory
This book proposes a rather novel legal-philosophical approach to understanding the intersection between law and morality. It does so by analyzing the conditions for the existence of a juridical domain of natural law from the perspective of the tradition of Thomistic juridical realism. In order to highlight the need to reconnect with this ......
