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Freedom's Law : The Moral Reading of the American Constitution

by Ronald Dworkin

List Price: $16.05


Paperback - 416 pages (April 1997)

Harvard Univ Pr; ISBN: 0674319281 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.99 x 9.27 x 6.14

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Freedom's Law is Dworkin's impassioned defense of free speech and conscience. The thread that ties these essays together is his criticism of strict historical interpretation of the Constitution, which holds that our modern-day understanding must be strictly limited to the concerns of the Constitution's framers, rather than the underlying principles embodied within. Divided into three parts, the book examines the soundness of Roe v. Wade, defends a broad reading of the First Amendment and attacks the nominations of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

The New York Times Book Review

Ronald Dworkin, one of the most distinguished constitutional thinkers of our time, offers us a collection of his previously published essays that is both eloquently written and forcefully argued ... his defense of a vibrant, open, and tolerant society is one of which John Stuart Mill would be proud. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.




Old Ideas for Re-Discussion, May 30, 1998

Reviewer: Smcleod@aol.com from New York City

Since this book consists of occasional pieces collected under a common rubric, it's persuasive thrust will find its target in a readership that is already sympathetic to Dworkin's legal and political philosophy. The arguments are not finely made, as they are in, say, *Taking Rights Seriously*, or in *Life's Dominion*. Many of the illustrative parables he uses, he's used before. That being said, *Freedom's Law* is a good collection highlighting the contours of Dworkin's fundamental objections to legal positivism. I think it is possible to follow Dworkin's non-interpretivist method without arriving at the same(moral)conclusions. But if you aren't already familiar with Dworkin's intellectual base of operations, a better place to start would be *Taking Rights Seriously* (easy to find) or, even better, his early and very important essay, "Is Law a System of Rules?" reprinted in *The Philosophy of Law* ed. by Dworkin (harder to find). To his credit, in this latter collection, he gives ample space to views contrary to his own, such as Hart's positivism, and Finnis' moral arguments against abortion.