Synopsis
A liberal legal philosophy arguing that law is an interpretive practice, where judges decide hard cases by reading legal materials in their morally best light.
Core passage idea
Paraphrase · Modern copyrighted workJudges find the right answer by interpreting the law as a coherent moral whole, as if completing a chain novel begun by others.
It rejects both raw judicial discretion and rigid rule-following, casting adjudication as principled interpretation.
To avoid a bubble
Pair with H. L. A. Hart, The Concept of Law.
Reading note
Read carefully; the ideas of law as integrity and the chain novel are the keys.
Best paired with
H. L. A. Hart, The Concept of Law