Over the last two decades scholars and citizens in Central and Eastern Europe had more than enough opportunity to realise that neither democracy nor the rule of law can be taken for granted. Such a realisation also means that if they want to think and speak clearly about or take a stand for their political and legal ideals, they need to reflect on them constantly, and conceptualise them in novel ways, by questioning entrenched lines of argument and problematising established patterns of thought. The contributors of this volume discuss a wide range of subjects from jurisprudential methodology and legal reasoning through democracy and constitutional courts to rights and criminal justice, raising questions and suggesting new ideas on «The Rule of Law and the Challenges to Jurisprudence» in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond.

Péter Cserne is senior lecturer in law at the University of Hull (UK).
Miklós Könczöl is assistant lecturer at the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences at Pázmány Péter Catholic University in Budapest (Hungary).
Marta Soniewicka is lecturer at the Faculty of Law and Administration at Jagiellonian University in Kraków (Poland).

Contents: Szilárd Tattay: The Relationship of Natural Law and Natural Rights: Organic, Contingent, or Logically Contradictory? ¿ Verena Risse: International Coercion and the Requirement of an International Rule of Law ¿ Goran Dajovi¿: The Subject Matter of Jurisprudence ¿ Luka Burazin: Is «Naturalised» Methodology in Legal Theory Helpful? ¿ Lidia Rodak: Objectivity as Coherence in Practical Discourse ¿ Tilen Štajnpihler: Within Democracy¿s Reach? Revisiting Some Objections to Judge-made Law ¿ Ágnes Kovács: A New Trend in the Debate on Justifying Judicial Review: Considering the Benefits of Judicial Reasoning ¿ Krzysztof J. Kaleta: Between Refexivity and Effectiveness: Dilemmas of the Democratic Legitimacy of Constitutional Justice ¿ Mojca M. Plesni¿ar: Shielding Criminal Justice from Politics ¿ Sabina Zgaga: Introduction of Criminal Law Powers in Other Legal Procedures: A Convenient Bypass for Obtaining Evidence?