The Germ of Justice Essays in General Jurisprudence

General jurisprudence is the theory of law in general, identifying features that law has wherever and whenever legal institutions exist. But it is no hermetic inquiry. Law depends on, and has consequences for, politics and morality.

In The Germ of Justice, one of the subject's prominent exponents disentangles these relationships. Professor Leslie Green probes three clusters of problems: the nature of law as a social construction, the relations between law and morality, and the demands that law makes of its officers and its subjects. Along the way, Green asks what jurisprudence can learn from the social sciences, how it is related to the humanities, how it might make progress, and why it is of value.

This wonderful and accessible text engages leading theories of law and key works of Hume, Kelsen, Hart, Dworkin, Finnis, and Raz. The Germ of Justice is a must-have work in contemporary jurisprudence and a powerful contribution to political theory and moral philosophy.

Leslie Green, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Oxford

Leslie Green was born in Scotland and studied at Queen's University, Canada and at Nuffield College, Oxford. He began teaching at Lincoln College, Oxford before moving to Osgoode Hall Law School. He later returned to Oxford as Professor of the Philosophy of Law and Fellow of Balliol College, and to Queen's as Professor of Law and Distinguished University Fellow. He has been a Visiting Professor at Berkeley, Chicago, NYU and Texas - Austin, and delivered named lectures around the world, including the Leon Green Lecture, The Julius Stone Address, the Kadish Lecture, the 'Or 'Emet Lecture, and the Dewey Lecture.

Law, As Such
1. The Concept of Law Revisited
2. Law as a Means
3. Custom and Convention at the Foundations of Law
4. Realism and the Sources of Law
5. Feminism in Jurisprudence
Law and Morality
6. The Germ of Justice
7. The Inseparability of Law and Morals
8. The Morality in Law
9. The Role of a Judge
10. Should Law Improve Morality?
The Demands of Law
11. Hume on Allegiance
12. Associative Obligations and the State
13. The Forces of Law
14. The Duty to Govern