On 7 and 8 December 2007, a group of legal theorists got together to celebrate, but also critically discuss, Neil MacCormick’s latest book, arguably his magnum opus, Institutions of Law: An Essay in Legal Theory (MacCormick 2007). This collection is a direct result of that meeting, which was generously sponsored by the Leverhulme Trust, and held at the School of Law, University of Edinburgh. There had been a previous occasion, and also a previous collection (see Bankowski and MacLean 2006), where a chapter of MacCormick’s earlier Rhetoric and the Rule of Law (MacCormick 2005) was discussed, but the publication of this book was clearly an event that merited its own careful attention.

Natural law theory is enjoying a revival of interest in a variety of scholarly disciplines including law, philosophy, political science, and theology and religious studies. This volume presents twelve original essays by leading natural law theorists and their critics. The contributors discuss natural law theories of morality, law and legal reasoning, politics, and the rule of law. Readers get a clear sense of the wide diversity of viewpoints represented among contemporary theorists, and an opportunity to evaluate the arguments and counterarguments exchanged in the current debates between natural law theorists and their critics. Contributors include Hadley Arkes, Joseph M. Boyle, Jr., John Finnis, Robert P. George, Russell Hittinger, Neil MacCormick, Michael Moore, Jeffrey Stout, Joseph Raz, Jeremy Waldron, Lloyd Weinreb, and Ernest Weinrib.