The Practice of Principle: In Defence of a Pragmatist Approach to Legal Theory (Clarendon Law Lectures)

The Practice of Principle is an important book by a leading legal philosopher. Coleman makes penetrating observations regarding a range of topics, including tort theory, analytical jurisprudence, and jurisprudential methodology with typical clarity, novelty, and rigor. In Part I Coleman attacks the economic analysis of tort law: he argues, persuasively, that such an approach fails as a conceptual analysis, as a constructive interpretation, and as a causal-functionalist explanation of the development of tort law. Coleman uses economic analysis as his foil in displaying the virtues of the corrective justice account defended at length in Risks and Wrongs. In Part II Coleman articulates his version of inclusive legal positivism (which, he thinks, and I agree, was also H. L. A. Hart's) and defends that version against a number of objections from Ronald Dworkin, Joseph Raz, and Scott Shapiro. In conversation with his brilliant but often uncharitable interlocutors, Coleman's analytical abilities absolutely shine. Part III defends conceptual analysis as a sound and intellectually profitable approach to legal theory; if it less gripping than the previous sections it is only because the quality of Coleman's opponents has fallen (from the likes of Posner and Raz to Brian Leiter). I recommend this book to anyone who cares to see the state of the art in legal theory through the eyes of one of its central figures.