Ronald Dworkin

An overall account of the legal and political philosophy of an increasingly influential lawyer and philosopher in both the US and the UK - Ronald Dworkin. Dworkin's works are now standard reading for courses on jurisprudence and political theory and all practical lawyers will have struggled with his highly complex ideas at some point; yet no in depth analysis of his theories has been made to date. In this book Stephen Guest attempts to explain and illustrate Dworkin's legal philosophy as clearly and as coherently as possible. In a short introduction he gives a brief biography of Dworkin and describes the intellectual context within which his theories have emerged. He shows how Dworkin's ideas encompass nothing less than a complete theory of legal and political reasoning, relevant to both the US and UK legal systems, and emphasizes Dworkin's increasing importance to the practical lawyer.