Why do some rules have the status of law while others do not? Is law simply a matter of rules anyway? What is justice? This updated new edition of Legal Theory asks questions such as these, discusses topical issues such as animal rights, and explains some of the answers which legal theorists have given from Ancient Greece to the present day.

Preface
The Nature of Legal Theory: From Laws to Law
An Overview of the Relationship between Law and Morality
The Natural Law Tradition
English Analytical Positivism
Kelsen's Hierarchy of Norms
The Revival of Natural Law: Fuller and Finnis
Policies, Principles, Rights and Interpretation: Dworkin's Theory of Adjudication
American Realism
Critical Perspectives on Law
Theories of Justice
Law and Morality

IAN MCLEOD, formerly Head of Law at London Metropolitan University, UK, is a Visiting Fellow in Law at the University of Teesside. Following professional experience as a local government lawyer and a prosecuting solicitor, he has specialized in teaching Legal Theory, Legal Method and Public Law. He is also the author of Legal Method in the Palgrave Macmillan Law Masters series, Key Concepts in Law and co-author of Studying Law, all from Palgrave Macmillan.