Joseph Raz has been teaching in Oxford since 1972. He has held a chair in the philosophy of law since 1985, and has been a Research Professor since 2006. He has also held a professorship at Columbia University since 2002. He is a fellow of the British Academy and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

• 1: Introduction


• I: Methodological Issues


• 2: Can there be a Theory of Law?


• 3: Two Views of the Nature of the Theory of Law: A Partial Comparison


• II: Law, Authority and Morality


• 4: On the Nature of Law


• 5: The Problem of Authority: Revisiting the Service Conception


• 6: About Morality and the Nature of Law


• 7: Incorporation by Law


• 8: Reasoning with Rules


• III: Interpretation


• 9: Why Interpret?


• 10: Interpretation Without Retrieval


• 11: Intention in Interpretation


• 12: Interpretation: Pluralism and Innovation


• 13: On the Authority and Interpretation of Constitutions: Some Preliminaries


• Appendix


• 14: Postema on Law's Autonomy and Public Practical Reasons: A Critical Comment


• Index

In this book Joseph Raz develops his work on some central questions in practical philosophy: legal, political and moral. The book provides a valuable overview of Raz's views on the methodology of jurisprudence; on the nature of law and its relation to morality; on the justification of authority; and on interpretation in law and the humanities.