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The Expressive Powers of Law : Theories and Limits / Richard H. McAdams.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2015]Copyright date: ©2014Description: 1 online resource (318 p.) : 14 diagramsContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780674046924
  • 9780674735965
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 340/.14 23
LOC classification:
  • K213 .M425 2015eb
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Introduction: Alternatives to Deterrence and Legitimacy -- 1. Expressive Claims about Law -- 2. The Focal Point Power of Expression -- 3. Law as Focal Point -- 4. Law's Focal Power in Dynamic Perspective -- 5. Legislation as Information -- 6. Revelation of Information by Legal Enforcement -- 7. The Power of Arbitral Expression -- 8. Normative Implications -- Conclusion. Law's Expressive Powers -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index
Summary: When asked why people obey the law, legal scholars usually give two answers. Law deters illicit activities by specifying sanctions, and it possesses legitimate authority in the eyes of society. Richard McAdams shifts the prism on this familiar question to offer another compelling explanation of how the law creates compliance: through its expressive power to coordinate our behavior and inform our beliefs. People seek order, and they sometimes obtain a mutually shared benefit when each expects the other to behave in accordance with law. Traffic regulations, for example, coordinate behavior by expressing an orderly means of driving. A traffic sign that tells one driver to yield to another creates expectations in the minds of both drivers and so allows each to avoid collision. McAdams generalizes from traffic to constitutional and international law and many other domains. In addition to its coordinating function, law expresses information. Legislation reveals something important about the risks of the behavior being regulated, and social attitudes toward it. Anti-smoking laws, for example, signal both the lawmakers' recognition of the health risks associated with smoking and the public's general disapproval. This information causes individuals to update their beliefs and alter their behavior. McAdams shows how an expressive theory explains the law's sometimes puzzling efficacy, as when tribunals are able to resolve disputes even though they lack coercive power or legitimacy. The Expressive Powers of Law contributes to our understanding of the mechanisms by which law-simply by what it says rather than what it sanctions-generates compliance.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780674735965

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Introduction: Alternatives to Deterrence and Legitimacy -- 1. Expressive Claims about Law -- 2. The Focal Point Power of Expression -- 3. Law as Focal Point -- 4. Law's Focal Power in Dynamic Perspective -- 5. Legislation as Information -- 6. Revelation of Information by Legal Enforcement -- 7. The Power of Arbitral Expression -- 8. Normative Implications -- Conclusion. Law's Expressive Powers -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

When asked why people obey the law, legal scholars usually give two answers. Law deters illicit activities by specifying sanctions, and it possesses legitimate authority in the eyes of society. Richard McAdams shifts the prism on this familiar question to offer another compelling explanation of how the law creates compliance: through its expressive power to coordinate our behavior and inform our beliefs. People seek order, and they sometimes obtain a mutually shared benefit when each expects the other to behave in accordance with law. Traffic regulations, for example, coordinate behavior by expressing an orderly means of driving. A traffic sign that tells one driver to yield to another creates expectations in the minds of both drivers and so allows each to avoid collision. McAdams generalizes from traffic to constitutional and international law and many other domains. In addition to its coordinating function, law expresses information. Legislation reveals something important about the risks of the behavior being regulated, and social attitudes toward it. Anti-smoking laws, for example, signal both the lawmakers' recognition of the health risks associated with smoking and the public's general disapproval. This information causes individuals to update their beliefs and alter their behavior. McAdams shows how an expressive theory explains the law's sometimes puzzling efficacy, as when tribunals are able to resolve disputes even though they lack coercive power or legitimacy. The Expressive Powers of Law contributes to our understanding of the mechanisms by which law-simply by what it says rather than what it sanctions-generates compliance.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)