Download PDF The Morality of Law Revised Edition The Storrs Lectures Series Lon L Fuller 8601405605863 Books
Download As PDF : The Morality of Law Revised Edition The Storrs Lectures Series Lon L Fuller 8601405605863 Books
In a lengthy new concluding chapter labeled "A Reply to Critics," Lon L. Fuller extends and clarifies his definition of the relation between law and morality put forward in the first (1964) edition of The Morality of Law. His original argument distinguishes between the morality of duty and the morality of aspiration, both of which bear on the design and operation of social institutions the former by setting the necessary preconditions of any purposive social endeavor, the latter by suggesting the directions for such endeavor.
In the revised edition, Fuller takes accurate aim at the school of legal philosophy called the New Analytical Jurists and continues his long-running debate with his major intellectual antagonist, H.L.A. Hart. Although the author calls the new chapter "A Reply to Critics," his expressed reason for undertaking it indicates that it is more than that "As critical reviews of my book came in, I myself became increasingly aware of the extent to which the debate did indeed depend on 'starting points' - not on what the disputants said, but on what they considered it unnecessary to say, not on articulated principles but on tacit assumptions. What was needed, therefore, it seemed to me, was to bring these tacit assumptions to more adequate expression than either side has so far been able to do." There is no question that Mr. Fuller here gives the assumptions of his side adequate expression.
“The volume must be regarded as an important contribution of general interest to the study of the nature and function of law…Trenchant comment abounds throughout the book, and there is an immense amount of the most valuable material here, as well as considerable food for the thought…his book deserves to reach a very wide audience.†– Law Times.
“The book is a provocative one which is certain to excite much academic comment here and abroad.†– Harvard Law Record.
“Although fully intelligible to the undergraduate, this book is likely to receive its warmest reception form advanced students of the philosophy of law, who will welcome the relief provided from the frequently sterile tone of much recent work in the field.†– Choice
Download PDF The Morality of Law Revised Edition The Storrs Lectures Series Lon L Fuller 8601405605863 Books
"It is difficult for me to deal with abstract conflicts on a theoretical level when I lack success in the kind of humor that appeals to me more than Fuller's attempt to wrap himself in the mantle of righteousness as he considers law as an interactive enterprise trying to create a context in which independent actors can go about their business without having to do anything about $14 trillion dollars that has already been spent. The Preface to the Second Edition, dated May 1, 1969, just a month before I went to Vietnam, was prepared during the year that I would have remained in Professor Fuller's Contracts class at Harvard Law School if I had not been drafted in Novcember, 1968. The fifth chapter, A Reply to Critics, prepared at that time, might as well give up trying to "trace the consequences of a particular action through the fabric of society unless that fabric itself preserves some measure of integrity." (p. 238). The monetary circumstances keep giving away any case that would be moral in outlook. As Fuller claims:
one can imagine a lunatic
erupting on the scene and demanding to know
where his intended victim is hiding (pp. 239-240)
like Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement of the Dallas Police Station, if I recall November, 1963, as well as millions of Americans watching a TV network as it was showing the aftermath of the JFK assassination for those who expected to see some legal consequences of an action that changed the nature of the government within the Constitutional limits on the official actions of elected officials.
A real shift in psychology noticed by Fuller:
In sociology and legal anthropology
there is a discernable trend
away from structural theories
and toward a study of interactional processes;
I am told a similar shift has taken place
during the last fifteen years in psychiatry
and psychoanalysis. As for the law, . . .
In this new climate of opinion,
there is no longer any need to apologize for being
critical of positivism,
nor does one run any serious risk
that a rejection of positivism will be taken
to imply a pretension that one has established contact
with Absolute Truth. (p. 241)."
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Tags : The Morality of Law Revised Edition (The Storrs Lectures Series) [Lon L. Fuller] on . <DIV>In a lengthy new concluding chapter labeled A Reply to Critics, Lon L. Fuller extends and clarifies his definition of the relation between law and morality put forward in the first (1964) edition of <I>The Morality of Law</I>. His original argument distinguishes between the morality of duty and the morality of aspiration,Lon L. Fuller,The Morality of Law Revised Edition (The Storrs Lectures Series),Yale University Press,0300010702,Law and ethics,Law and ethics.,Ethics moral philosophy,Jurisprudence general issues,Jurisprudence philosophy of law,LAW / Natural Law,Law,Legal Reference / Law Profession,Natural Law
The Morality of Law Revised Edition The Storrs Lectures Series Lon L Fuller 8601405605863 Books Reviews :
The Morality of Law Revised Edition The Storrs Lectures Series Lon L Fuller 8601405605863 Books Reviews
- Great book
- Good
- Though it was written more than 50 years ago. The idea and theory can give me fresh insight into the utility of law.
- The ultimate justification for the topics covered in this book might be that it recognizes certain disagreements about how law ought to be applied, that certain questions might be raised with any authority that seeks to apply laws in a manner which, according to Lon Fuller, seems to violate "practical wisdom applied to problems that may broadly be called those of social architecture. St. Thomas Aquinas stands for many as a kind of symbol of all that is dogmatic and theological in the tradition of natural law. Yet as one writer has recently pointed out, Aquinas in some measure recognized and dealt with all eight of the principles of legality discussed in my second chapter." (pp. 241-2). If anything, trying to impose morality on an enterprise as quixotic as the law is more likely to meet with indifference today than ever, and already in Chapter IV of this book, Fuller admitted that scholars could mean him when discussing "Law and Morals" and complaining "Again, if this is what the necessary connexion of law and morality means, we may accept it. It is unfortunately compatible with very great iniquity." (p. 154). Just thinking about very great iniquity reminds me of what most people think prosecutors are for, and in the interest of harmony in the marketplace, I will make no further comments on this book. If only the law could always be so lucky.
- It is difficult for me to deal with abstract conflicts on a theoretical level when I lack success in the kind of humor that appeals to me more than Fuller's attempt to wrap himself in the mantle of righteousness as he considers law as an interactive enterprise trying to create a context in which independent actors can go about their business without having to do anything about $14 trillion dollars that has already been spent. The Preface to the Second Edition, dated May 1, 1969, just a month before I went to Vietnam, was prepared during the year that I would have remained in Professor Fuller's Contracts class at Harvard Law School if I had not been drafted in Novcember, 1968. The fifth chapter, A Reply to Critics, prepared at that time, might as well give up trying to "trace the consequences of a particular action through the fabric of society unless that fabric itself preserves some measure of integrity." (p. 238). The monetary circumstances keep giving away any case that would be moral in outlook. As Fuller claims
one can imagine a lunatic
erupting on the scene and demanding to know
where his intended victim is hiding (pp. 239-240)
like Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement of the Dallas Police Station, if I recall November, 1963, as well as millions of Americans watching a TV network as it was showing the aftermath of the JFK assassination for those who expected to see some legal consequences of an action that changed the nature of the government within the Constitutional limits on the official actions of elected officials.
A real shift in psychology noticed by Fuller
In sociology and legal anthropology
there is a discernable trend
away from structural theories
and toward a study of interactional processes;
I am told a similar shift has taken place
during the last fifteen years in psychiatry
and psychoanalysis. As for the law, . . .
In this new climate of opinion,
there is no longer any need to apologize for being
critical of positivism,
nor does one run any serious risk
that a rejection of positivism will be taken
to imply a pretension that one has established contact
with Absolute Truth. (p. 241).
