Justice in Robes Paperback – April 30, 2008

Dworkin (law and philosophy, New York Univ.), a respected judicial scholar, attempts to provide a "general theory" of law, while identifying three necessary stages of legal analysis: semantics, jurisprudential, and doctrinal. The combination of these three components provides the basis for a deeper understanding of the authentic interconnectivity between law and morals, according to Dworkin. The work consists of eight previously published essays and one new essay; it possesses the typical limitations of an edited collection of essays composed by a single author over an extended period of time (a decade and a half). Many worthwhile topics are examined, but the collection lacks thematic cohesion and purpose. Chapters one through three are critiques of Richard Rorty, Stanley Fish, Cass Sunstein, and Richard Posner. Chapter four is devoted to refuting Isaiah Berlin's alleged "moral pluralism." The remaining five chapters are assessments of H. L. A. Hart, Antonin Scalia, John Rawls, and other thinkers, as well as a defense of Dworkin's earlier scholarship. Finally, Dworkin's attempted refutation of "originalism" is predictable, given his well-known opinions on the subject. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students through practitioners

While not reaching the heights of Law's Empire, Taking Rights Seriously or his masterwork Justice for Hedgehogs this book still deserves five stars both because Dworkin is an exceptional writer and for his response to Hart's Postscript, which he handles deftly, and his complimentary views on John Rawls whom he looks to in benediction in the final page of the book. Definitely worthwhile if you are a scholar of Dworkin.