This collection provides a comprehensive account of Robert Alexy's legal theory. It is divided into three parts: the nature of law; constitutional rights, human rights, and proportionality; and the relation between argumentation, correctness, and law.

Part I: The Nature of Law 1: The Nature of Legal Philosophy 2: On the Concept and the Nature of Law 3: The Dual Nature of Law 4: Law, Morality, and the Existence of Human Rights 5: An Answer to Joseph Raz 6: The Ideal Dimension of Law 7: Gustav Radbruch's Concept of Law Part II: Constitutional Rights, Human Rights, and Proportionality 8: The Construction of Constitutional Rights 9: Balancing, Constitutional Review, and Representation 10: The Existence of Human Rights 11: The Weight Formula 12: Formal Principles: Some Replies to Critics 13: Ideal 'Ought' and Optimization 14: Human Dignity and Proportionality 15: Proportionality and Rationality 16: The Absolute and the Relative Dimension of Constitutional Rights Part III: Argumentation, Correctness, and Law 17: A Discourse-Theoretical Conception of Practical Reason 18: Problems of Discourse Theory 19: Legal Argumentation as Rational Discourse 20: Jürgen Habermas's Theory of the Indeterminacy of Law and the Rationality of Adjudication 21: Law and Correctness

A comprehensive account in English of renowned legal theorist Robert Alexy's understanding of jurisprudence Part One explores law's real and ideal dimensions and how the ideal does not play a systematically important role. Part Two discusses constitutional rights, human rights, and proportionality. Elaborating on the nature of constitutional rights as well as the balancing of those rights. Part Three concerns the relation between argumentation, correctness, and law. The author concludes this volume with a biographical reflection.

Robert Alexy, Professor of Public Law and Legal Philosophy at Christian Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany. Robert Alexy has been Professor of Public Law and Legal Philosophy at Christian Albrechts University, Kiel, since 1986. He was President of the German Section of the International Association for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (IVR) from 1994 to 1998. Alexy's other titles published by OUP include A Theory of Legal Argumentation, The Argument from Injustice, and A Theory of Constitutional Rights.

A comprehensive account in English of renowned legal theorist Robert Alexy's understanding of jurisprudence Part One explores law's real and ideal dimensions and how the ideal does not play a systematically important role. Part Two discusses constitutional rights, human rights, and proportionality. Elaborating on the nature of constitutional rights as well as the balancing of those rights. Part Three concerns the relation between argumentation, correctness, and law. The author concludes this volume with a biographical reflection.