Philosophy of Law

For over a year now I've been wanting to start reading philosophy of law, after a brief excursion last year into political philosophy. Well today I picked up and began Blackwell's Companion to Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory, an anthology edited by Dennis Patterson of Rutgers Law. I've owned the book for months, but hadn't opened it up. Well today I did, and what did I find in the table of contents? Brian Leiter on "Legal Realism," Jack Balkin on "Deconstruction," and Larry (I mean Lawrence B.) Solum on "Indeterminancy." It's a legal blogger's dream!

Other books on my reading list include H.L.A. Hart's The Concept of Law, Fuller's The Morality of Law, Finnis' Natural Law and Natural Rights, Kennedy's A Critique of Adjudication, and Dworkin's Taking Rights Seriously, Law's Empire, and Freedom's Law.

Anyone have further suggestions?

UPDATE: Blogging is really great. I just got a very nice e-mail from Professor Patterson thanking me for mentioning the book. Well thank you Professor for providing the perfect starting point for anyone interested in legal philosophy. I'm through the first two essays (on property law and contract) and can already say this volume is highly, highly recommended.

UPDATE II: Here is Professor Solum's Top Ten Contemporary Jurisprudence books. Looks like I need to pick up a few more texts. I have Rawls' Theory of Justice but haven't been sure where to fit that into the reading plan.