A Matter of Dispute

Morality, Democracy, and Law

Christopher J. Peters

Presents a unified analytical framework for approaching problems across multiple disciplines: legal philosophy, political philosophy, theory of adjudication, and constitutional theory
Offers a fresh perspective on a number of longstanding problems in legal and political theory, such as the source of legal authority, the normative grounding of democratic legitimacy, the duties of judges in a democratic system, and the justification and methodology of judicial review
Written in a style that is both informative to specialists and accessible to nonspecialists
Connects fundamental theoretical issues to practical questions of law and government
Addresses recurring hot topics regarding the proper normative foundation of democracy, the nature and scope of adjudication in a democratic system, and the normative and conceptual basis of legal authority

A Matter of Dispute

Morality, Democracy, and Law

Christopher J. Peters

Description

Law often purports to require people, including government officials, to act in ways they think are morally wrong or harmful. What is it about law that can justify such a claim?

In A Matter of Dispute: Morality, Democracy, and Law, Christopher J. Peters offers an answer to this question, one that illuminates the unique appeal of democratic government, the peculiar structure of adversary adjudication, and the contested legitimacy of constitutional judicial review. Peters contends that law should be viewed primarily as a device for avoiding or resolving disputes, a function that implies certain core properties of authoritative legal procedures. Those properties - competence and impartiality - give democracy its advantage over other forms of government. They also underwrite the adversary nature of common-law adjudication and the duties and constraints of democratic judges. And they ground a defense of constitutionalism and judicial review against persistent objections that those practices are "counter-majoritarian" and thus nondemocratic.

This work canvasses fundamental problems within the diverse disciplines of legal philosophy, democratic theory, philosophy of adjudication, and public-law theory and suggests a unified approach to unraveling them. It also addresses practical questions of law and government in a way that should appeal to anyone interested in the complex and often troubled relationship among morality, democracy, and the rule of law.

Written for specialists and non-specialists alike, A Matter of Dispute explains why each of us individually, and all of us collectively, have reason to obey the law - why democracy truly is a system of government under law.

A Matter of Dispute

Morality, Democracy, and Law

Christopher J. Peters

Prologue: The Price of Law
Chapter One: Introduction: A Government of Laws
Chapter Two: The Problem of Law's Authority
Chapter Three: A Simple Model of Dispute Resolution
Chapter Four: Disputes, Legal Rules, and Democracy
Chapter Five: Democratic Adjudication
Chapter Six: The Forms and Limits of Democratic Adjudication
Chapter Seven: Democracy vs. Law?
Chapter Eight: Constitutional Process
Epilogue: The Limits of Law

A Matter of Dispute

Morality, Democracy, and Law

Christopher J. Peters

Author Information

Christopher J. Peters, Professor of Law, University of Baltimore School of Law

Christopher J. Peters is a Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore where he teaches constitutional law, constitutional theory, and civil procedure. He also has taught at the law schools of the University of Chicago, Loyola Marymount University, the University of Michigan, the University of Toledo, and Wayne State University. His articles have appeared in many legal journals, including the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, and Legal Theory. Born and raised in Michigan, he now lives in Baltimore with his wife, who is a librarian and researcher. This is his first book.