An Influential Study by a Leading Exponent of Legal RealismIn this influential and oft-cited study Ross discounted the theories of natural law, positivism and legal realism. In their stead, he proposed the abandonment of "ought-propositions" for the "is-propositions" employed by other empirical sciences, thereby envisioning lawyers that serve merely as "rational technologists." Less bound by tradition, and traditional notions of justice, jurisprudence then becomes "not only a beautiful mental activity per se, but also an instrument which may benefit any lawyer who wants to understand what he is doing and why" (Preface).Alf Niels Christian Ross 1899-1979] was Professor of Law at the University of Copenhagen. In 1956 he was a visiting professor at the University of Illinois. He served for seven years on the constitutional committee that laid the groundwork for the Danish constitution of 1953. His many books, which have been translated extensively, include Towards a Realistic Jurisprudence (1946), A Textbook of International Law (1947), Constitution of the United Nations: Analysis of Structure and Function (1950), Why Democracy? (1952), Directives and Norms (1968) and On Guilt, Responsibility and Punishment (1975).

Reprint of the first American edition. One of the most interesting jurists of the post-World War II era, Ross [1899-1979] was a legal and moral philosopher, scholar of international law and the leading representative of Scandinavian Legal Realism. This book and On Law and Justice (1958) are his principal works. In Directives and Norms Ross asks whether imperatives (or, to use his term, 'directives') are subject to logic in the same way as indicatives. He shows the difference between indicative and directive discourse and explains the concepts 'directive' and 'norm' as they function in the social sciences, especially in the study of law. A contemporary essay in the Modern Law Review (32:544), though critical of this work, was still impressed by its "clear and convincing account" of these processes.

Ross was an important Danish jurist who wrote a series of influential treatises that combined legal realism, Continental jurisprudence and Scandinavian legal concepts. Although its title suggests a basic introductory work, A Textbook of International Law is actually a sophisticated presentation of his international law of jurisprudence. Reprint of the sole edition, never before reprinted.
"It is a pleasant task to welcome a treatise on international law with such a refreshingly new approach to the subject. (...) It presents] the cardinal doctrines of international law according to a scheme which is at once novel and stimulating to the English reader." --R.Y. Jennings, Journal of Comparative Legislation & International Law, 3rd. Series, 30 (1948) 122
Alf Niels Christian Ross 1899-1979] was Professor of Law at the University of Copenhagen. In 1956 he was a visiting professor at the University of Illinois. He served for seven years on the constitutional committee that laid the groundwork for the Danish constitution of 1953. His many books, which have been translated extensively, include Towards a Realistic Jurisprudence (1946), Constitution of the United Nations: Analysis of Structure and Function (1950), Why Democracy? (1952), Directives and Norms (1968) and On Guilt, Responsibility and Punishment (1975).

On Law and Justice 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. Ross was, in H.L.A. Hart's words, 'the most acute and best-equipped philosopher' of Scandinavian legal realism. On Law and Justice 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. This new edition features an introduction by Jakob v. H. Holtermann, clarifying Ross's general philosophical project and detailing the sophisticated dual distinction between internal and external aspects of law that provides a counterpoint to Hart's celebrated analysis. This new translation will allow readers to appreciate Ross's insights into the ongoing empirical turn in legal scholarship and related attempts to associate legal realism with broader philosophical trends.