The Alexy-Poscher Debate on Legal Principles
Published on 12. June 2025
Book
Hardback
200 pages
978-1-5099-8061-1 (ISBN)
Description
This collective work provides a chronological and up-to-date reconstruction of the three-round debate between Robert Alexy and Ralf Poscher.
The debate represents the German development of an enduring jurisprudential controversy over the concept and adjudicatory role of legal principles, classically addressed by HLA Hart and Ronald Dworkin. Alexy's principles theory, which has initially defined 'legal principles' as optimisation requirements, currently argues that they express an 'ideal ought'. Poscher's critique challenges the soundness of Alexy's principles theory by questioning its ontological and epistemological commitments.
As legal principles are directly related to constitutional rights, the Alexy-Poscher debate has significant implications for constitutional adjudication. For instance, proportionality analysis - which incorporates a highly controversial balancing test - and the legitimate boundaries of judicial power, hinge on the debate's two opposing views. Yet despite the centrality and pervasiveness of this topic, German contributions to the theoretical and practical impact of legal principles remain generally overlooked by English-speaking scholars.
Concluding with David Duarte's critical and meticulous assessment of the debate, this collection bridges that important scholarly gap. Whether or not conversant in the debate on legal principles, legal researchers and advanced law students with interdisciplinary interests in jurisprudence and constitutional law will find in this book a timely and distinctive introduction to leading developments in German legal thinking.
The debate represents the German development of an enduring jurisprudential controversy over the concept and adjudicatory role of legal principles, classically addressed by HLA Hart and Ronald Dworkin. Alexy's principles theory, which has initially defined 'legal principles' as optimisation requirements, currently argues that they express an 'ideal ought'. Poscher's critique challenges the soundness of Alexy's principles theory by questioning its ontological and epistemological commitments.
As legal principles are directly related to constitutional rights, the Alexy-Poscher debate has significant implications for constitutional adjudication. For instance, proportionality analysis - which incorporates a highly controversial balancing test - and the legitimate boundaries of judicial power, hinge on the debate's two opposing views. Yet despite the centrality and pervasiveness of this topic, German contributions to the theoretical and practical impact of legal principles remain generally overlooked by English-speaking scholars.
Concluding with David Duarte's critical and meticulous assessment of the debate, this collection bridges that important scholarly gap. Whether or not conversant in the debate on legal principles, legal researchers and advanced law students with interdisciplinary interests in jurisprudence and constitutional law will find in this book a timely and distinctive introduction to leading developments in German legal thinking.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
464 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5099-8061-1 (9781509980611)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Robert Alexy is Professor of Public Law and Legal Philosophy at Kiel University, Germany.
Ralf Poscher is Director of the Department of Public Law at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law, Germany.
Rafael Giorgio Dalla-Barba is Doctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law, Germany.
David Duarte is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Lisbon, Portugal.
Ralf Poscher is Director of the Department of Public Law at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law, Germany.
Rafael Giorgio Dalla-Barba is Doctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law, Germany.
David Duarte is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Lisbon, Portugal.
Content
Introduction: A Brief Overview of the Alexy-Poscher Debate, Rafael Giorgio Dalla-Barba (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law, Germany)
First Round
1. On the Structure of Legal Principles, Robert Alexy (Kiel University, Germany)
2. Insights, Errors, and Self-Misconceptions of the Theory of Principles, Ralf Poscher (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law, Germany)
Second Round
3. Ideal 'Ought', Robert Alexy (Kiel University, Germany)
4. Theory of a Phantom: The Principles Theory's Futile Quest for its Object, Ralf Poscher (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law, Germany)
Third Round
5. Ideal 'Ought' and Optimisation, Robert Alexy (Kiel University, Germany)
6. Resuscitation of a Phantom? On Robert Alexy's Latest Attempt to Save His Concept of Principle, Ralf Poscher (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law, Germany)
Conclusion: The Alexy-Poscher Debate: Working on the Problems and on the Solutions, David Duarte (University of Lisbon, Portugal)
First Round
1. On the Structure of Legal Principles, Robert Alexy (Kiel University, Germany)
2. Insights, Errors, and Self-Misconceptions of the Theory of Principles, Ralf Poscher (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law, Germany)
Second Round
3. Ideal 'Ought', Robert Alexy (Kiel University, Germany)
4. Theory of a Phantom: The Principles Theory's Futile Quest for its Object, Ralf Poscher (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law, Germany)
Third Round
5. Ideal 'Ought' and Optimisation, Robert Alexy (Kiel University, Germany)
6. Resuscitation of a Phantom? On Robert Alexy's Latest Attempt to Save His Concept of Principle, Ralf Poscher (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law, Germany)
Conclusion: The Alexy-Poscher Debate: Working on the Problems and on the Solutions, David Duarte (University of Lisbon, Portugal)