Law's Task: The Tragic Circle of Law, Justice and Human Suffering (Applied Legal Philosophy)

What is the ultimate task of law? This deceptively simple question guides this volume towards a radically original philosophical interpretation of law and justice. Weaving together the philosophical, jurisprudential and ethical problems suggested by five general terms - thinking, human suffering, legal meaning, time and tragedy - the book places the idea of law's ultimate task in the context of what actually happens when people seek to do justice and enforce legal rights in a world that is inflected by the desperation and suffering of the many. It traces the rule of law all the way down to its most fundamental level: the existence of universal human suffering and how it is that law-doers inflict or tolerate that suffering.

Louis E. Wolcher is Charles I. Stone Professor of Law at the University of Washington School of Law, Seattle, USA. Professor Wolcher's primary research interests are in the fields of philosophy of law, legal and political theory, philosophy of language, and human rights.