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Mapping Legal Theory, Richard F. Devlin Frsc

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In this essay, the author briefly outlines recent trends in Canadian jurisprudence. Beginning with a brief overview of the classical jurisprudential debate between natural lawyers, legal positivists, and legal realists, the author then provides an introduction to a new theoretical tradition which he terms "Artifactualism", as well as a survey of contemporary ''Artifactualist Jurisprudence". He argues that there has been a significant theoretical shift away from the classical conceptualization of law as morality (as embodied in natural law, and challenged by legal posltlvism and legal realism), toward the conceptualization of law as politics (as promulgated by artifactualism). This new conceptualization …