This book presents papers read at the Conference on Legal Theory and Philosophy of Science, held at Lund, December 11-14,1983. The main idea of the conference was to arti- culate, to test, and to apply scientific rationality with regard to the domain of law and legal reasoning. Although. very different views were presented, the general impres- sion is that this idea may have some future, as it yielded many surprising and stimulating discussions in Lund. The editors express their gratitude to Torsten S5der- bergs och Ragnar S5derbergs Stiftelser, Marianne och Marcus Wallenbergs Stiftelse, Craffoordska Stiftelsen, Swensonska Fonden, Einar Hansens Forskningsfond, Svenska Institutet and Lunds Universitet for subsidizing the con- ference. We also express gratitude to Lund University for help of various kinds, including free rooms, assistance with copying materials, and thousands of other necessary things. We thank all people whose work made the conference possible, first of all Mr.Roland Sch5tt who during a long period acted as the secretary of the Organizing Committee, Mr.Mats Mattsson and Mrs.Irena Peczenik who helped with so many things necessary for the meetings, and many students and members of the staff of Lund University Law School.

To a certain extent, this book is a translation of Recht, verhaal en werke- lijkheid, published by Coutinho (Bussum, 1993). Chapters 1, 5 and 9, however, differ considerably from the original. At the basis of the Dutch book were arguments already submitted in 'Narrative coherence in legal contexts', in C. Faralli and E. Pattaro (eds.), Reason in Law, vol. III., Milano, A. Giuffre Editore, 1988, pp. 159-170; 'Justice, Rights, and Hu- man Dignity', in The Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice, 7, 1987, pp. 46-65; 'Narrative coherence and the guises of legalism', in P. Nerhot (ed.), Law, Interpretation and Reality, Dordrecht - Boston, Kluwer Aca- demic Publishers, 1990, pp. 310-345; 'The Instituting of Brute Facts', in The International Journal for the Semiotics of Law / Revue internationale de semiotique juridique, 4, 1991, pp. 279-308. For chapters 1 and 9 I used the following materials: 'Law is narrative, not literature', in W.l. Witte- veen (ed.), Law, Rhetoric and Literature (Special Issue of the Dutch Jour- nal for Legal Philosophy and Legal Theory), 23, No.3, 1994, Zwolle, Tjeenk Willink, 1994, pp. 221-227 (with a response by R. Weisberg, pp. 228-229); and 'Seeing Places: On Prepositions in Law', The International Journal for the Semiotics of Law / Revue internationale de semiotique juridique, 6, 1993, pp. 249-270. Chapter 5 was rewritten on the basis of 'The Instituting of Brute Facts'.

This book presents papers read at the Conference on Legal Theory and Philosophy of Science, held at Lund, December 11-14,1983. The main idea of the conference was to arti- culate, to test, and to apply scientific rationality with regard to the domain of law and legal reasoning. Although. very different views were presented, the general impres- sion is that this idea may have some future, as it yielded many surprising and stimulating discussions in Lund. The editors express their gratitude to Torsten S5der- bergs och Ragnar S5derbergs Stiftelser, Marianne och Marcus Wallenbergs Stiftelse, Craffoordska Stiftelsen, Swensonska Fonden, Einar Hansens Forskningsfond, Svenska Institutet and Lunds Universitet for subsidizing the con- ference. We also express gratitude to Lund University for help of various kinds, including free rooms, assistance with copying materials, and thousands of other necessary things. We thank all people whose work made the conference possible, first of all Mr.Roland Sch5tt who during a long period acted as the secretary of the Organizing Committee, Mr.Mats Mattsson and Mrs.Irena Peczenik who helped with so many things necessary for the meetings, and many students and members of the staff of Lund University Law School.

To a certain extent, this book is a translation of Recht, verhaal en werke- lijkheid, published by Coutinho (Bussum, 1993). Chapters 1, 5 and 9, however, differ considerably from the original. At the basis of the Dutch book were arguments already submitted in 'Narrative coherence in legal contexts', in C. Faralli and E. Pattaro (eds.), Reason in Law, vol. III., Milano, A. Giuffre Editore, 1988, pp. 159-170; 'Justice, Rights, and Hu- man Dignity', in The Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice, 7, 1987, pp. 46-65; 'Narrative coherence and the guises of legalism', in P. Nerhot (ed.), Law, Interpretation and Reality, Dordrecht - Boston, Kluwer Aca- demic Publishers, 1990, pp. 310-345; 'The Instituting of Brute Facts', in The International Journal for the Semiotics of Law / Revue internationale de semiotique juridique, 4, 1991, pp. 279-308. For chapters 1 and 9 I used the following materials: 'Law is narrative, not literature', in W.l. Witte- veen (ed.), Law, Rhetoric and Literature (Special Issue of the Dutch Jour- nal for Legal Philosophy and Legal Theory), 23, No.3, 1994, Zwolle, Tjeenk Willink, 1994, pp. 221-227 (with a response by R. Weisberg, pp. 228-229); and 'Seeing Places: On Prepositions in Law', The International Journal for the Semiotics of Law / Revue internationale de semiotique juridique, 6, 1993, pp. 249-270. Chapter 5 was rewritten on the basis of 'The Instituting of Brute Facts'.