Taking Rights Seriously: With a New Appendix, a Response to Critics

What is law? What is it for? How should judges decide novel cases when the statutes and earlier decisions provide no clear answer? Do judges make up new law in such cases, or is there some higher law in which they discover the correct answer? Must everyone always obey the law? If not, when is a citizen morally free to disobey? A renowned philosopher enters the debate surrounding these questions. Clearly and forcefully, Ronald Dworkin argues against the “ruling” theory in Anglo-American law—legal positivism and economic utilitarianism—and asserts that individuals have legal rights beyond those explicitly laid down and that they have political and moral rights against the state that are prior to the welfare of the majority. Mr. Dworkin criticizes in detail the legal positivists’ theory of legal rights, particularly H. L. A. Hart’s well-known version of it. He then develops a new theory of adjudication, and applies it to the central and politically important issue of cases in which the Supreme Court interprets and applies the Constitution. Through an analysis of John Rawls’s theory of justice, he argues that fundamental among political rights is the right of each individual to the equal respect and concern of those who govern him. He offers a theory of compliance with the law designed not simply to answer theoretical questions about civil disobedience, but to function as a guide for citizens and officials. Finally, Professor Dworkin considers the right to liberty, often thought to rival and even preempt the fundamental right to equality. He argues that distinct individual liberties do exist, but that they derive, not from some abstract right to liberty as such, but from the right to equal concern and respect itself. He thus denies that liberty and equality are conflicting ideals. Ronald Dworkin’s theory of law and the moral conception of individual rights that underlies it have already made him one of the most influential philosophers working in this area. This is the first publication of these ideas in book form.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1. Jurisprudence 2. The Model of Rules I 3. The Model of Rules II 4. Hard Cases 5. Constitutional Cases 6. Justice and Rights 7. Taking Rights Seriously 8. Civil Disobedience 9. Reverse Discrimination 10. Liberty and Moralism 11. Liberty and Liberalism 12. What Rights Do We Have? 13. Can Rights be Controversial? Appendix: A Reply to Critics Index

About the Author :
Ronald Dworkin was Frank Henry Sommer Professor of Law and Philosophy at New York University.

Review :
The most important work in jurisprudence since H. L. A. Hart’s The Concept of Law and, from a philosophical point of view at least, the most sophisticated contribution to that subject yet made by an American writer… Dworkin’s essays are brilliantly written… [T]he book is remarkable in its unity and technical assurance. It is a rare treat—important, original philosophy that is also a pleasure to read. Dworkin argues vigorously, imaginatively and elegantly. In a series of beautifully written, mutually supportive essays, Dworkin applies the theory of rights, or his own version of the theory, to the case of judicial decision-making. The most significant book on philosophy of law in this decade and surely one of the more interesting ones of the century. Dworkin’s writing launches a frontal attack on the two concepts, utilitarianism and legal positivism, that have dominated Anglo-American jurisprudence in the 20th century… Dworkin’s theories have created shock waves among jurisprudential scholars.