María José Falcón y Tella – författare

This volume critically explores the basis and the goal of punishment from the standpoint of the right to punish. Studies and works dedicated to punishment are scarce compared to those dedicated to Crime Theory or some aspect thereof. The book reviews the main doctrines that have dealt with the theme of punishment from Antiquity to the present, not limiting itself to the legal-philosophical sphere but also analyzing the contributions from other social sciences. It then explores how these are reflected in the sphere of Positive Law.Moving from the most abstract and general to the most concrete and specific, various themes relating to the concept of punishment are distinguished. These themes are not exactly equivalent but are, nevertheless, often confused with one another. They are: Punishment; Punitive Practice; Sentence and Penalty. Of these the third – Sentence, which is almost the least generic concept dealt with, having to do with that area of law which basically constitutes Criminal Law – forms the central part of the work. In this section, via a dual structure, the distinction is made between punishments and deterrents, as the prime types of punitive practice, with a distinct historical tradition, diverse bases and functions, around which different sorts of theories and schools have developed.The book ends with a series of critical conclusions as to what, in the opinion of the authors, should be a correct conception of punishment.

What this book intends to do is to study three-dimensionalism (the distinction values-norms-facts) not in what could be called its historical dimension, but in its substantive aspect, as a “form” that, when applied to different legal themes, would add a “material content” to the three-dimensional theory. We can point out, as a study plan, the distinction between “three” perspectives: Those of the legal norm, of the legal order, and the legal relationship. Three-dimensionalism also appears in this work when one analyzes the “three” phases of the life of the law: The formation, the interpretation, and the application; and in the distinction between the “three” characteristics of the legal order: Fullness, coherence, and unity—the theory of legal validity, intended as legitimacy, as validity strictly speaking, or as effectiveness.

Case law is a widely studied field, posing a series of questions. The first issue relates to the nature of case law itself, as the term cannot be given a single meaning. There is no one definition of case law, but rather a plurality of meanings depending on the historical period and legal system in question.After an analysis of Roman iurisprudentia and Anglo-Saxon case law, this work considers the Spanish legal system, as an example of a Continental jurisdiction, and distinguishes between the case laws of the Supreme and Constitutional Courts, the European courts, and the Superior Courts of Justice of the Autonomous Communities.The book analyses these issues, among many others, in a clear and in-depth manner, from an historical and comparative approach of great interest and academic value.

Challenges to Legal Theory offers the reader a fascinating journey through a variety of multi-disciplinary topics, ranging from law and literature, and law and religion, to legal philosophy and constitutional law. The collection reflects some of the challenges that the field of legal theory currently faces. It is compiled by a selection of international and Spanish scholars, whose essays are made available in English translation for the first time. The volume is based on a collection of essays, published in Spanish, in honour of Professor José Iturmendi Morales, of Complutense University, Madrid, and brings the rich scholarship of pre-eminent Spanish scholars of law and legal theory to an international audience.