Legal Theory Blog: O'Beirne on Legal Philosophy & a Theory of the ...

Brian H. O'Beirne (Trinity College Dublin) has posted Does Legal Philosophy Need a Theory of the State? on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

This article is of a decidedly analytic bent. It seeks to show that Legal Philosophy does not need a theory of the State. In other words, that an account of the State is neither logically nor conceptually necessary to the enterprise of Legal Philosophy. After having clarified in what sense I am using the term "Legal Philosophy," I go on to consider an array of different theories of the State, ranging from the more modern accounts of Green, to the more archaic of Weber. The latter understands the State to be a distinctive phenomenon in virtue of its capacity to successfully claim a monopoly on the legitimate use of force. This article spends much of its time showing why force itself is not a necessary feature of a legal system (in doing so, it runs up against both Dworkin's and Bobbio's accounts), and, therefore, why any coercion-based theory of the State, such as Weber's, is not necessary to Legal Philosophy.

Source: http://lsolum.typepad.com/legaltheory/2011/10/obeirne-on-legal-philosophy-a-theory-of-the-state.html

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