Central Issues in Jurisprudence: Justice, Law and Rights

Citation

Simmonds, N. E., & Neoh, J. (2022). Central Issues in Jurisprudence: Justice, Law and Rights (6th ed.). Sweet & Maxwell.

Chapter Summary

The book first appeared in 1986 and has been revised over nearly four decades; the sixth edition (2022) runs to about 360 pages. Nigel Simmonds, Professor of Jurisprudence at Cambridge and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, wrote the earlier editions alone; the publisher's catalogue data list Joshua Neoh as co-author of the sixth. The publisher describes the book as a clear introduction to the major theories and arguments in current jurisprudence, combining exposition with commentary, so that students can read the original writers with a real understanding of how the theories relate to each other and cluster around a few fundamental issues. The eight chapters are grouped in three parts named after those issues: justice, law and rights.

Part One, Chapter 1: Utilitarianism

The first theory of justice examined is utilitarianism, the view that the right action or institution is the one that produces the best overall consequences. It opens the part on justice and is followed by three theories that, in different ways, depart from it.

Chapter 2: Rawls

A chapter on John Rawls's theory of justice, the most influential modern alternative to utilitarianism in political philosophy.

Chapter 3: Nozick

Robert Nozick's theory, which sets an account of justice built on individual entitlements against theories, such as Rawls's, that judge the distribution of goods as a whole.

Chapter 4: Finnis on objective goods

John Finnis's natural law theory, approached through his account of objective goods. It closes Part One.

Part Two, Chapter 5: Hart

H. L. A. Hart's theory of law. As the opening chapter of the part on law, it introduces the account of law against which the next two chapters are set.

Chapter 6: Dworkin

Ronald Dworkin's theory of law, which challenged Hart's account.

Chapter 7: Fuller

Lon Fuller's theory of law, the last of the three theories examined in Part Two.

Part Three, Chapter 8: The analysis of rights

The final part, a single chapter, turns to the third central question: what it means to have a right, and how rights claims can be analysed.

Key Concepts

Part One: Justice (Chapters 1–4)

• Utilitarianism: the theory that justice and right action are a matter of maximising overall welfare.
• Rawls's theory of justice: the principal modern alternative to utilitarianism.
• Nozick's theory of justice: an account grounded in individual entitlements rather than overall distributive patterns.
• Objective goods: Finnis's basis for a natural law theory.

Part Two: Law (Chapters 5–7)

• Hart's theory of law: the first account of law examined, and the one the next two chapters engage with.
• Dworkin's challenge: a rival account of what law is, developed in opposition to Hart.
• Fuller's theory of law: the third account of law examined in Part Two.

Part Three: Rights (Chapter 8)

• The analysis of rights: what is asserted when someone is said to have a right.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Organised around questions, not schools. The three-part structure, justice, law and rights, groups theorists by the problem they address, which the publisher presents as the book's main aim: to let students see how the theories relate to one another.
• Exposition with argument. The publisher stresses that the book combines lucid exposition with commentary and analysis of each theory, and aims to make the subject accessible without over-simplifying it. The description quoted from Kortext states that the object is to enable students to think critically and independently, not merely to inform them.
• A bridge to the primary texts. The book's declared purpose is to prepare students to read Rawls, Nozick, Finnis, Hart, Dworkin and Fuller themselves, rather than to replace them.
• A long-tested text. Six editions since 1986, with the first edition reviewed in The Cambridge Law Journal and the Anglo-American Law Review (1986) and a later edition in The Law Teacher (2014), show sustained use in teaching.

Limitations

• Selective coverage. With eight chapters, the book concentrates on a small number of theorists. The contents list has no chapter on legal realism, critical legal studies, feminist or Marxist jurisprudence, sociological approaches or the history of legal thought, and Joseph Raz and other later positivists have no chapter of their own; modules that cover those topics need other reading.
• Demanding for beginners. The publisher itself calls jurisprudence a demanding subject, and the book works through arguments in depth. Students with no background in philosophy may find a very short overview helpful first.
• Part Three is brief. The analysis of rights receives a single chapter, compared with four chapters on justice and three on law.

Where It Fits in the Course

Among the jurisprudence books on this list, this is the main textbook for a first course. Raymond Wacks's Philosophy of Law: A Very Short Introduction surveys the main questions and schools of legal philosophy in plain language and is a good preliminary; it covers more schools at less depth, which makes it useful for the approaches that Simmonds and Neoh leave out. Lon Fuller's The Case of the Speluncean Explorers is a short fictional case decided by judges who represent competing judicial philosophies; it is a natural companion to Chapters 5–7 and works well as a seminar text. Nicola Lacey's biography of H. L. A. Hart, A Life of H.L.A. Hart, places Hart's theory in its intellectual and personal context and can follow Chapter 5 for readers who want more.

The other books listed for the course address particular topics rather than general jurisprudence. Tom Regan's The Case for Animal Rights and Defending Animal Rights, and the anthology Animal Rights and Human Obligations edited by Peter Singer and Tom Regan, apply rights-based and utilitarian arguments to the moral status of animals, and pair naturally with Chapters 1 and 8. Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im's The Compatibility Dialectic is an advanced study of how Islamic law and state law can coexist, best read after the course has covered the nature of law.

How to Use This Book

The book is written for law students taking jurisprudence or legal theory, usually in the second or final year, and for anyone who wants a serious introduction to the main debates. No prior study of philosophy is assumed, but readers should expect sustained argument.

A practical plan:

• Follow the syllabus order, part by part. If the course begins with the nature of law, start with Part Two (Chapters 5–7), reading Hart before Dworkin and Fuller, since the later chapters respond to him. If it begins with justice, read Part One in order: utilitarianism first, then Rawls and Nozick as responses to it, then Finnis.
• Read each chapter with the primary text beside it. The book's stated purpose is to prepare students to read the original writers. After each chapter, read the relevant extract or book: Hart's The Concept of Law, Dworkin's Law's Empire or Taking Rights Seriously, Fuller's The Morality of Law, Rawls's A Theory of Justice, Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia or Finnis's Natural Law and Natural Rights.
• Keep notes on connections. The book's value lies in showing how theories answer one another. For each chapter, note which earlier theory it responds to and what question it leaves open; these connections are the material of good examination answers.
• Do not skip Chapter 8. Rights recur across both justice and law, and the analysis of rights is often examined on its own.

Fill the gaps in coverage with a broader survey, such as Wacks's, for legal realism, critical and feminist theory and other schools not covered here.