Short description:

This book, originally published in 1959, makes explicit the social principles which underlie the procedures and political practice of the modern democratic state.

Long description:

This book, originally published in 1959, makes explicit the social principles which underlie the procedures and political practice of the modern democratic state. The authors take the view that in the modern welfare state there are problems connected with the nature of law, with concepts like rights, justice, equality, property, punishment, responsibility and liberty and which modern philosophical techniques can illuminate.

'...an important book, likely to start a new chapter in political philosophy.' - Times Educational Supplement

'...lucid, critical and full of sense.' - Glasgow Herald

Table of Contents:

Part 1: Society: Its Rules and Their Validity  1. Society and Types of Social Regulation  2. Moral Theory  3. Legal Theory  4. Rights  Part 2: Social Principles and Their Implementation  5. Justice and Equality  6. Justice and the Distribution of Income  7. Property  8. Punishment  9. Freedom and Responsibility 10. Freedom as a Political Ideal  Part 3: Principles of Association and the Democratic State  11. Individuals in Association  12. Sovereignty and the Moral Basis of State Supremacy  13. The State and Other Associations  14. The Grounds of Authority and Political Obligation  15. Democracy  Appendix International Relations