Interpretation without Truth: A Realistic Enquiry

Description

This book engages in an analytical and realistic enquiry into legal interpretation and a selection of related matters including legal gaps, judicial fictions, judicial precedent, legal defeasibility, and legislation. Chapter 1 provides an outline of the central theoretical and methodological tenets of analytical realism. Chapter 2 presents a conceptual apparatus concerning the phenomenon of legal interpretation, which it subsequently applies to investigate the truth-in-legal-interpretation issue. Chapters 3 to 6 argue for a theory of legal interpretation - pragmatic realism - by outlining a theory of interpretive games, revisiting the debate between literalism and contextualism in contemporary philosophy of language, and underscoring the many shortcomings of the container-retrieval view and pragmatic formalism. In turn, Chapter 7, focusing on comparative legal theory, advocates an interpretation-sensitive theory of legal gaps, as opposed to purely normativist ones. Chapter 8 explores the connection between judicial reasoning and judicial fictions, casting light on the structure and purpose of fictional reasoning. Chapter 9 provides an analytical enquiry into judicial precedent, examining a variety of ideal-typical systems in terms of their normative or de iure relevance. Chapter 10 addresses defeasibility and legal indeterminacy. In closing, Chapter 11 highlights the central tenets of a realistic theory of legislation. Front Matter ....Pages i-viii Introduction: The Path of Analytical Realism (Pierluigi Chiassoni)....Pages 1-15 Interpretation, Truth, and the Logical Forms of Interpretive Discourse (Pierluigi Chiassoni)....Pages 17-48 Interpretive Games (Pierluigi Chiassoni)....Pages 49-74 Taking Context Seriously (Pierluigi Chiassoni)....Pages 75-102 Frames v. Containers (Pierluigi Chiassoni)....Pages 103-123 Towards Pragmatic Realism (Pierluigi Chiassoni)....Pages 125-158 Legal Gaps (Pierluigi Chiassoni)....Pages 159-179 Judicial Fictions (Pierluigi Chiassoni)....Pages 181-200 Precedent (Pierluigi Chiassoni)....Pages 201-220 Defeasibility and Legal Indeterminacy (Pierluigi Chiassoni)....Pages 221-253 Legislation (Pierluigi Chiassoni)....Pages 255-266 Back Matter ....Pages 267-279