Freedom's Law

Freedom's Law
Author: Ronald Dworkin
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 438
Release: 1999
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0198265573

Dworkin's important book is a collection of essays which discuss almost all of the great constitutional issues of the last two decades, including abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, homosexuality, pornography, and free speech. Dworkin offers a consistently liberal view of the Constitution and argues that fidelity to it and to law demands that judges make moral judgments. He proposes that we all interpret the abstract language of the Constitution by reference to moral principles about political decency and justice. His 'moral reading' therefore brings political morality into the heart of constitutional law. The various chapters of this book were first published separately; now drawn together they provide the reader with a rich, full-length treatment of Dworkin's general theory of law.

Bridging Scripture and Moral Theology

Bridging Scripture and Moral Theology
Author: Michael B. Cover
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2019-07-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1498567762

This book comprises essays honoring the life and work of Yiu Sing Lúcás Chan, S.J., who died unexpectedly on May 19, 2015, at the end of his first year as a member of the faculty in the Department of Theology at Marquette University. The editors intend to commemorate Chan’s brief but productive career by furthering the critical conversations he started. The essays included thus touch on aspects of the brilliant young Jesuit’s wide-ranging work in the fields of scriptural research, moral theology, and systematic theology. Each essay either engages Chan’s scholarship directly or seeks to advance his design to bridge the disciplinary gaps between scriptural research and constructive theology. This book includes contributions by noted Roman Catholic theologians James F. Keenan, S.J., Bryan N. Massingale, and John R. Donohue, S.J., as well as two original poems by his Marquette colleagues dedicated to Lúcás.

Fidelity to Our Imperfect Constitution

Fidelity to Our Imperfect Constitution
Author: James E. Fleming
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2015-07-17
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0199969469

In recent years, some have asked "Are we all originalists now?" and many have assumed that originalists have a monopoly on concern for fidelity in constitutional interpretation. In Fidelity to Our Imperfect Constitution, James Fleming rejects originalisms-whether old or new, concrete or abstract, living or dead. Instead, he defends what Ronald Dworkin called a "moral reading" of the United States Constitution, or a "philosophic approach" to constitutional interpretation. He refers to conceptions of the Constitution as embodying abstract moral and political principles-not codifying concrete historical rules or practices-and of interpretation of those principles as requiring normative judgments about how they are best understood-not merely historical research to discover relatively specific original meanings. Through examining the spectacular concessions that originalists have made to their critics, he shows the extent to which even they acknowledge the need to make normative judgments in constitutional interpretation. Fleming argues that fidelity in interpreting the Constitution as written requires a moral reading or philosophic approach. Fidelity commits us to honoring our aspirational principles, not following the relatively specific original meanings (or original expected applications) of the founders. Originalists would enshrine an imperfect Constitution that does not deserve our fidelity. Only a moral reading or philosophic approach, which aspires to interpret our imperfect Constitution so as to make it the best it can be, gives us hope of interpreting it in a manner that may deserve our fidelity.

Judicial Review in an Age of Moral Pluralism

Judicial Review in an Age of Moral Pluralism
Author: Ronald C. Den Otter
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2009-08-31
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0521762049

This book considers how judicial review can be improved to strike the appropriate balance between legislative and judicial power.