On the Nature of Legal Principles

The model of legal principles introduced by Ronald Dworkin and further developed by Robert Alexy stands at the center of a variety of debates in the fields of legal philosophy and legal theory. In the controversy about the legal concept, the concept of principles is advanced in favor of a necessary bond between law and morals. In methodological contexts, the consideration of principles is now given the same weight as the subsumption under rules. The analysis of balance has led in particular to a deeper understanding of the principle of proportionality, which is of central importance in constitutional law and in many other areas of law. This ARSP supplement collects essays on central aspects of the theory of principles.