Chapter 23 Appendix: New Trends in American Legal Philosophy

The 1960s represented a less active period in the history of American legal philosophy, but interest in the discipline flourished again in the 1970s and 1980s with considerable momentum, a period in its development. The factor was the rise of political conservatism, which was accompanied by the waning decline of the liberalism that had dominated Roosevelt's New Deal and President Johnson's "Great Society" programs.Conservative tendencies became increasingly apparent during Nixon's presidency beginning in 1968, especially in economics.This trend was briefly interrupted during President Carter's four-year tenure.But it was revived by Reagan's two landslide victories in 1980 and 1984.Although President Reagan never had complete control of the federal legislature, the U.S. Congress agreed to major elements of his "supply-side" economic policies, such as substantial reductions in business taxes, reductions in social services, and reduction or relaxation of some government controls on private economic activity .Today's Americans generally expect that the election of Bush as the new president of the United States will allow the above-mentioned policies to continue to be implemented.

These social and economic tendencies are, to some extent, a revival of earlier laissez-faire practices, and there are parallel tendencies in legal theory. The "Law and Economics School" held many of the beliefs advocated by political leaders in the 1980s.The main representatives of this faction are Richard Posner, Frank Easterbrook and Richard Epstein.Posner and Easterbrook once taught law at the University of Chicago and are currently senior federal judges, while Epstein is a professor at the University of Chicago Law School. The proponents of the self-proclaimed "critical legal studies" movement are totally opposed to the tenets of the schools of law and economics, the former on the political left and the latter on the political right.Some of the most famous members of the critical legal studies school are Duncan Kennedy, Roberto Unger, Peter Gabel, Mark Tahinath, and Mark Kelman.Supporters of the movement are by no means unanimous in their views, but agree on issues concerning the legal system itself, particularly the "American legal" system.

The third school can be said to be located between the above two opposing schools in terms of standpoint. If we use Roberto Unger's name, this school can be called the "Rights and Principles School".The most influential representatives of this school are John Rawls and Ronald Dworkin.They are all jurisprudential heirs of the liberal, social reform tradition expressed in the policies of Presidents Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Johnson. Dworkin is now a chair professor of jurisprudence at Oxford University, so should he Considered America's legal philosopher, there may be some doubts.However, he was born and educated in the United States, and teaches in New York 6 months a year, so it makes sense to include him in this discussion.

The following sections examine the School of Law and Economics, the Critical Legal Studies movement, and the School of Rights and Principles represented by Rawls and Dworkin.I will not comment on these jurisprudential views, but only raise the question in the last section of this article, whether these three movements have really affected today's legal life, and what more profound consequences will they produce in the future? actual impact.