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Biographical note
Young Kim is a practicing lawyer and has taught at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, the University of Luxembourg Faculté des Droits et d'Economie, and the University of Colorado School of Law.Indisputably a thought-provoking book. A permanent addition to the literature of the subject —rich both in scholarship and insight.
- Arhat Virdi, University of Oxford,
In pursuit of the question of law, Young Kim explores foundational political and moral concerns and develops a new normative theory of law. This theory of law may be stated as two principles, in lexical priority, as follows:
First Principle: One should obey those laws of legal-rational political authority that do not otherwise violate societal norms and customs.
Second Principle: Government should only enforce rules of human behavior of legitimate legal-rational political authority.
This view understands the foundation of law to be political, including the power to enforce rules. Thus, as this book argues, the question of law is seen primarily as a question of obedience—whether and in what circumstances it is appropriate to obey the law. Furthermore, justice is seen as providing the moral framework within which rules of law are articulated. Law should serve the demands of justice; in particular, the theory of justice as right actions, which is led by moral concerns.
The Question of Law proffers an original theory of law, stated as two normative principles. Law is seen having a political foundation, with the question of law thus becoming a question of obedience – whether and in what circumstances it is appropriate to obey the law. Kim further maintains that law should serve the demands of justice.
Introduction
Part I: A Theory of Law
Chapter 1: What Is Law?
Chapter 2: Obligations
Chapter 3: Values and Norms
Part II Early Theories of Law
Chapter 4: Classical Views
Chapter 5: Natural Law
Chapter 6: Legal Positivism
Part III Political Foundations of Law
Chapter 7: Political Society and Civil Government
Chapter 8: Liberalism
Chapter 9: Group Rights
Chapter 10: International Relations
Part IV Contemporary Theories of Law
Chapter 11: Natural Law
Chapter 12: Social Facts
Chapter 13: Legal Positivism
Part V Justice and Law
Chapter 14: Contemporary Theories of Justice
Chapter 15: Justice and Law
Conclusion: Normative Principles of Law
Works Cited
About the Author