Re-Imagining Justice: Progressive Interpretations of Formal Equality, Rights, and the Rule of Law

by Robin West, Alvin Van Silverstein

Resurrecting the neglected question of what we mean by legal justice, this book seeks to re-imagine rather than simply critique contemporary notions of the rule of law, rights and legal equality. A work of reconstruction, it offers a progressive and egalitarian approach to concepts that have become overly associated with the idea of limited government and social conservatism. Focusing on the necessary conditions of co-operative community life, the book presents a vision of law that facilitates rather than frustrates politics, an anlysis of rights that boosts our capacities for caring, and an idea of equality that captures a cosmopolitan vision based on the recognition of shared humanity.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2003

About the author

Robin West (born 1954) is the Frederick J. Haas Professor of Law and Philosophy and Associate Dean (Research and Academic Programs) at the Georgetown University Law Center. West's research is primarily concerned with feminist legal theory, constitutional law and theory, philosophy of law, and the law and literature movement.

West holds a B.A. and a J.D. (1979) from the University of Maryland and a masters in judicial studies from Stanford. West came to Georgetown after teaching at the University of Maryland Law School from 1986 to 1991, and at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law from 1982 to 1985.

West is best known for her work in the ethics of care and feminist legal theory.