On Law and Justice

<em>On Law and Justice</em> by Alf Ross (1899-1979) is a classic work of twentieth-century legal philosophy. The first translation into English was notably poor and abridged and it misrepresented Ross's views. Translated from scratch and in full length from the original Danish this new critical edition casts light on Ross's work and resituates it firmly in the context of current debates in the field. <p/>Ross was in H.L.A. Hart's words 'the most acute and best-equipped philosopher' of Scandinavian legal realism.<em> On Law and Justice</em> provides a comprehensive outline of his legal realist position offering a consistently empirical research programme that simultaneously recognizes the distinctly normative character of law. Ross's legal realism avoids the standard critiques against behaviourist reductionism while still remaining categorically distinct from legal positivism and natural law.<br>