Law's Empire
A Summary of Ronald Dworkin's Masterwork
Published in 1986, Law's Empire presents Dworkin's comprehensive
theory of law as integrity, challenging conventional understanding of
legal interpretation and judicial decision-making.
Ronald Dworkin
(1931-2013)
Leading American legal philosopher and constitutional scholar
Professor at Harvard, Oxford, and NYU Law Schools
Known for challenging legal positivism and developing interpretive theory of law
Key Contributions
• Theory of Law as Integrity
• Rights-based liberalism
• Constitutional interpretation
• Critique of legal positivism
What is Law?
Dworkin asks: What makes a proposition of law true or false?
Not just rules
Not just power
Something more
Law isn't just a set of explicit rules
laid down by authorities
Law isn't simply whatever judges
decide or what serves policy
Law involves interpretation,
principles, and moral reasoning
Dworkin's Framework
Conventionalism
Pragmatism
Law as Integrity
Law consists only of explicit
decisions of political institutions
Judges should decide based on what's
best for the community's future
Law requires judges to interpret legal
practice as a coherent whole
• Clear rules only
• Historical pedigree matters
• No gap-filling
• Forward-looking
• Policy-oriented
• Consequentialist
• Constructive interpretation
• Coherence and consistency
• Moral principles
Dworkin's Preferred Theory
Core Principle
Law as integrity requires judges to interpret legal practice as expressing a coherent conception of justice
and fairness
Two Dimensions
Fit: Interpretation must fit existing legal materials
Justification: Must present the law in its best moral light
Key Features
• Treats law as interpretive practice
• Seeks coherent principles
• Balances fit and moral worth
• Rejects bright-line rules
Law as Chain Novel
"Each judge is like a novelist in a chain novel, writing a chapter that must fit with what came
before while advancing the story in the best way possible."
The Writer's Task
• Must read previous chapters carefully
• Understand the story's themes and characters
• Continue the narrative coherently
• Add their own creative contribution
The Judge's Task
• Must study existing legal precedents
• Understand underlying principles
• Decide cases consistently
• Contribute to law's development
The Two-Stage Process
Fit
Justification
The interpretation must fit the existing legal
materials - statutes, precedents, constitutional
provisions
Among competing interpretations that fit, choose
the one that makes the law the best it can be
morally and politically
Requirements:
Considerations:
• Account for settled law
• Explain existing precedents
• Be consistent with institutional history
• Respect democratic decisions
• Justice and fairness
• Individual rights
• Community welfare
• Moral principles
"Fit comes first, but justification determines the winner among competing interpretations"
The Ideal Judge
"Judge Hercules" - Dworkin's hypothetical judge with superhuman intellectual powers and
infinite time to consider all aspects of law
Hercules' Abilities
• Perfect knowledge of all legal materials
• Complete understanding of precedents
• Unlimited time for reflection
• Superhuman analytical powers
• No cognitive limitations
What Hercules Shows
• One right answer exists to legal questions
• Law is determinate, not discretionary
• Interpretation can be objective
• Principles guide judicial decisions
• Ideal toward which real judges strive
The Living Constitution
Dworkin argues against both strict originalism and unconstrained judicial activism, proposing
instead an interpretive approach to constitutional law
Originalism
Activism
Constitution means what framers
intended
Judges free to impose personal
values
Dworkin's critique:
Too rigid; ignores constitutional
principles
Dworkin's critique:
Undermines democratic legitimacy
Integrity Approach
Interpret constitutional principles in
best light
Dworkin's solution:
Principled interpretation that evolves
Individual Rights vs. Collective Goals
"Individual rights are political trumps held by individuals"
Rights as Trumps
• Override utilitarian calculations
• Cannot be sacrificed for general welfare
• Protect minority interests
• Based on equal concern and respect
• Fundamental to human dignity
Implications
• Limits on democratic majority
• Strong judicial review
• Protection of unpopular minorities
• Constraints on government power
• Foundation for liberal democracy
Rights ensure that even unpopular individuals receive equal concern and respect from their government
Associative Obligations
Why do we have obligations to obey the law? Dworkin's answer: because we are members of a
genuine political community
True Community Requires
Creates Obligations
• Members see group's success as their own
• Accept special responsibilities to other members
• Equal concern and respect for all
• Genuine participation in collective decisions
• Duty to follow democratically made law
• Responsibility for community's actions
• Obligation to work for justice
• Commitment to equal treatment
"Law's empire is defined not by territory or power, but by attitude - an interpretive attitude that
makes each citizen responsible for imagining what their society's public commitments to
principle require"
Fundamental Values
Equality
Liberty
Equal concern and respect for all citizens
Freedom to make fundamental choices about one's life
Equal concern: Government must care equally about
each citizen's fate
Not license: Freedom doesn't mean absence of all
constraints
Equal respect: Government must respect each citizen's
capacity for choice
Principled limits: Restrictions must be justified by
principle
The Relationship
True equality and liberty are not in conflict but mutually reinforcing. A society that treats its
members with equal concern and respect will protect both their equal standing and their
freedom to live according to their own values.
When Law Conflicts with Conscience
When is it justified to disobey the law? Dworkin argues it depends on whether the law violates
fundamental rights or principles of justice
Justified Disobedience
Requirements
• Law violates fundamental rights
• Must be principled, not merely personal
• Conflicts with constitutional principles
• Should be public and non-violent
• Treats citizens unequally
• Willingness to accept legal consequences
• Undermines human dignity
• Last resort after other means exhausted
• Contradicts justice
• Proportionate to injustice
Civil disobedience can be an act of fidelity to law when it challenges particular legal rules in the
name of law's deeper principles
Judicial Review and Democracy
The Democratic Objection
Dworkin's Response
How can unelected judges override decisions of
democratic majorities?
• Judges not accountable to voters
• Courts lack democratic legitimacy
• Majority rule principle
• Separation of powers concerns
Courts protect the conditions that make
democracy legitimate
• Enforce constitutional principles
• Protect minority rights
• Ensure equal participation
• Prevent majoritarian tyranny
The Forum of Principle
Courts serve as a "forum of principle" where fundamental questions of justice and rights can be decided
based on principled argument rather than political power
When the Law Runs Out
Legal positivists argue that in hard cases, judges must use discretion to create new law. Dworkin
disagrees: there is always a right answer.
Traditional View
Dworkin's Theory
• Some cases have no legal answer
• Legal principles provide answers
• Judges discover, don't create law
• One right answer thesis
• Interpretation fills apparent gaps
• Judges must use discretion
• Courts make new law retroactively
• Legal gaps require judicial legislation
"Even in hard cases, legal argument is constrained by the requirement that interpretations fit
existing legal materials and present them in their best light"
Against Economic Analysis
Law & Economics Approach
Dworkin's Objections
• Judges should maximize wealth/efficiency
• Reduces persons to economic units
• Ignores distributive justice
• Rights not tradeable commodities
• Efficiency isn't the only value
• Economic analysis guides legal decisions
• Market-based solutions preferred
• Cost-benefit calculations central
The Fundamental Disagreement
Law and economics treats legal problems as optimization puzzles to be solved by maximizing
efficiency. Dworkin insists law must respect individual dignity and rights, which cannot be reduced
to economic calculations.
Scholarly Responses
Positivist Critique
Realist Critique
Practical Concerns
Hart, Raz, and others
Critical Legal Studies
Judges and practitioners
• Law can be identified without moral
argument
• Law is politics by other means
• Dworkin's theory too idealistic
• Theory too demanding for real
judges
• Dworkin conflates law as it is with
law as it should be
• Judges influenced by class,
ideology
• Disagreement about "right
answers"
• Judges do exercise strong discretion
• Complexity of interpretation
Dworkin's Legacy
Despite critiques, Dworkin's work fundamentally changed legal theory by showing the centrality of
interpretation and moral reasoning in law
Law as Integrity in Practice
Constitutional Law
Common Law
• Brown v. Board of Education
• Tort law development
• Roe v. Wade constitutional reasoning
• Contract interpretation
• Equal protection interpretation
• Property rights evolution
• Free speech doctrine development
• Precedential reasoning
Example: Privacy Rights
Though "privacy" isn't explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, Dworkin's approach would find it implicit in the
constitutional structure and necessary to make sense of existing protections as a coherent whole guided by
principles of human dignity.
Judicial Methodology
Judges using Dworkin's approach would: (1) Identify competing interpretations that fit existing law, (2) Evaluate which makes
the law the best it can be morally and politically, (3) Choose the interpretation that best serves justice and fairness
International Impact
Constitutional Courts
Academic Influence
• German Constitutional Court
• Legal education curricula
• South African Constitutional Court
• Scholarly methodology
• Canadian Supreme Court
• Judicial reasoning patterns
• European Court of Human Rights
• International law interpretation
Principles-Based Constitutionalism
Many newer constitutional systems explicitly adopt principles-based interpretation, balancing rights
and values rather than following rigid rules - reflecting Dworkin's influence
Human Rights
Dignity-based interpretation
Transitional Justice
Post-apartheid South Africa
EU Law
Proportionality doctrine
Essential Ideas
Law as Integrity
Fit & Justification
Chain Novel
Judges must interpret law as
coherent whole expressing
principles of justice
Two-stage process: interpretation
must fit existing law and justify it
morally
Judges like novelists adding
coherent chapters to ongoing
story
Judge Hercules
Rights as Trumps
Equal Concern
Ideal judge with perfect
knowledge showing law has right
answers
Individual rights override utilitarian
calculations
Government must treat all citizens
with equal concern and respect
Ronald Dworkin's Law's Empire fundamentally transformed our understanding of law,
showing it to be neither mechanical rule-following nor unconstrained policy-making, but
interpretive practice guided by principles of justice and integrity.
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