The Language and Uses of Rights: A Biopsy of American Jurisprudence in the Twentieth Century

This book is a contribution to current discussions in Jurisprudence or Philosophy of Law. The meaning and role of rights in society, legal discourse and judicial decision making is a topic that is the subject of much contemporary controversy. The author examines the various forms of rights discourse as language usages. The Language and Uses of Rights offers a vision of law as an activity engaged in by a variety of players, including judges, advocates for plaintiff and defendant, law reformers, and scholars. Contents: Preface; CHAPTER I: PURPOSES AND BASIC INSIGHTS; CHAPTER II: THE GRAND CONVERSATION OF LEGAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY; Introduction; Hart and the Realists: Rights as Remedies v. Rights as Conclusions in a System of Rules; Rights as Trumps; Rights as Reasons; Rights as Goals; Rights as Claims; Rights as Criticism; Rights as Resources; Crits (Rights as Ideology?); Rights as Rhetoric; CHAPTER III. HORIZONS, POINT OF VIEW AND A NEW MODEL FOR RIGHTS DISCOURSE; Introduction; Horizons; Point of View Analysis Presented; A Model for Understanding Rights Discourse; The Model Applied-Illustrations; CHAPTER IV: A HIGHER INTERPRETATION: Introduction; Conversation, Its Possibility; Why Converse?; Rights, Obligations and Deep Commitments-A Hard Reference Point for Understanding Rights; Overview and Conclusion; Endnotes; Bibliography; Index.