The Legal Theory Reading Group will meet on Tuesday at 7:30 (note the change from the Wednesday meeting time) in Hauser 103.
We will discuss Brian Leiter on “Legal Realism and Legal Positivism Reconsidered,” 111 Ethics 278 (2001), http://www.journals.uchicago.edu.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/233474, which argues that while legal positivism is a theory of law, legal realism is a theory of adjudication. Conceptually, then, there is no conflict between the two theories. At the empirical level, there is a genuine disagreement between the two theories, but positivism has no good arguments against the realist empirical account. (24 journal pages).