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List of contents
Contents: Intention, Interpretation, and Politics: Interpreting rules: the nature and limits of inchoate intentions, Larry Alexander and Emily Sherwin; Grounding theories of legal interpretation, Tom Campell; Legislative intentions, legislative supremacy, and legal positivism, Jeffrey Goldsworthy. Interpretative Perspectives: A brief history of equitable interpretation in the common law system, Jim Evans; Mad dogmas and Englishmen: how other people interpret and why, Maimon Schwarzschild; Authority, meaning, legitimacy, Margaret Davies; A hermeneutical standpoint, Arthur Glass; Law as the structure of meaning, Michael J. Detmold. Interpreting Constitutions: Living in the past: Burkean conservatism and originalist interpretation, Heidi M. Hurd; Natural rights, judicial review, and constitutional interpretation, Michael S. Moore; Two ways to derive implied constitutional rights, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong; Interpretations of federalism: the Australian doctrine of state immunity and the problem of collective choice, David Tucker; Index.
Summary
This title was first published in 2002: The judicial interpretation of statutes and constitutions is the controversial focus of much contemporary legal philosophy and practice. It is crucial for the distribution of power as between legislatures and judiciaries in democratic polities. The original essays in this volume relate to the prospects of finding a workable separation of powers which utilizes the rule of positive law to curb political power without undermining the right to self-determination which is central to the democratic ideal. Written by a group of distinguished American and Australian legal and political philosophers, the essays are divided into three parts: those sharing a particular concern with the proper role of law-makers’ intentions in legal interpretation; those applying or discussing particular approaches to interpretation: historical, comparative, hermeneutic, deconstructionist, and natural law; and those discussing originalism, individual rights, implications, and federalism in constitutional interpretation.
