Review Of "Germ Of Justice: Essays In General Jurisprudence" By L. Green

Green (emer., philosophy, Univ. of Oxford, England) is the most original and profound scholar of the philosophy of law in the generation after Joseph Raz. This marvelous collection of 15 essays—some of them new and several rewritten—demonstrates Green’s wide-ranging interests as well as his erudition, originality, and wit. His engagement with leading thinkers in jurisprudence—e.g., Aquinas, Hume, Bentham, Hart, Kelsen, and Raz—provides him with material that he shapes into his own distinctive and compelling legal positivist approach, which appreciates the connections between law and morality and the virtues and vices of the rule of law. The book is divided into three sections—"Law as Such," "Law and Morality," and "The Demands of Law"—and its essays are marked by analytical rigor and clarity so that even upper-level university students, in addition to scholars, will find them a trove of arguments and insights. A signal virtue of the entire collection is that the essays challenge conventional views and make the reader think. Every scholar working in the field would benefit from engaging with Green’s distinctive way of thinking. This superb collection of essays in general jurisprudence belongs in every library concerned with the intersection of law and philosophy. The introduction alone is worth the price of admission. Summing Up: Essential. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.