1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910838320203321

Autore

Powers William

Titolo

Sharpening the Legal Mind : How to Think Like a Lawyer

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Austin : , : University of Texas Press, , 2023

©2023

ISBN

1-4773-2643-X

1-4773-2642-1

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (239 pages)

Altri autori (Persone)

DeighJohn

Disciplina

349.73

Soggetti

Jurisprudence - United States - History

Law - Study and teaching - United States - History

Law - United States - Methodology - History

LAW / General

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

Intro -- Contents -- Editor's Preface -- One. "I Want My Old Mind Back" -- Two. "The Case of the Speluncean Explorers" -- Three. Law's Contours -- Four. Law and Morals: Positivism and Natural Law -- Five. Historical Schools of Thought: The American Revolution to World War II -- Six. Historical Schools of Thought: The Legal Process School in the Mid-Twentieth Century -- Seven. Two Background Moral Theories -- Eight. Historical Schools of Thought: Critical Legal Studies and Postmodern Legal Theories -- Nine. Methodological Polytheism -- Notes -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

The way lawyers think about the law can seem deeply mysterious. They see nuance and meaning in statutes and implications in judicial opinions that are opaque to the rest of us. Accessible and thought provoking, Sharpening the Legal Mind explains how lawyers analyze the cases and controversies that come before the courts. Written by William Powers Jr., the former president of the University of Texas at Austin, this book is an authoritative introduction to the academic study of law and legal reasoning, including insights into the philosophy of law and the intellectual history of legal thought. Powers discusses the methods lawyers use to interpret the law, the relation between law and morals,



and the role of courts in shaping the law. In eight chapters, he follows the historical debate on these issues and others through different generations and movements in American legal thought—formalism, realism, positivism—to critical legal studies and postmodern theory. The perfect read for anyone looking for a primer on legal reasoning, Sharpening the Legal Mind demystifies the debates and approaches to thinking like a lawyer that profoundly influence the rule of law in our lives.