Jeremy Waldron

  • Professor of Law
  • University Professor
Assistant: Omar Andron
  omar.andron@nyu.edu       212.998.6252
Jeremy Waldron

AREAS OF RESEARCH

Constitutional Theory, Law and Philosophy, Legal Philosophy, Political Theory


Jeremy Waldron teaches legal and political philosophy at NYU School of Law. Until recently, he was also Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at Oxford University (All Souls College). A prolific scholar, Waldron has written extensively on jurisprudence and political theory, including numerous books and articles on theories of rights, constitutionalism, the rule of law, democracy, property, torture, security, homelessness, and the philosophy of international law. His books include Dignity, Rank, and Rights (2012), Partly Laws Common to All Mankind: Foreign Law in American Courts (2012), The Harm of Hate Speech (2012), Torture, Terror, and Trade-offs: Philosophy for the White House (2010), Law and Disagreement (1999), and The Dignity of Legislation (1999). Waldron was born and educated in New Zealand, where he studied for degrees in philosophy and law at the University of Otago, and was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand in 1978. He studied at Oxford University for his doctorate in legal philosophy and taught there as a fellow of Lincoln College from 1980 to 1982. He has since taught at the University of Edinburgh; the University of California, Berkeley; Princeton University; and Columbia Law School. Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1998 and a fellow of the British Academy since 2011, Waldron has given many prestigious academic lectures, such as the Tanner Lectures at Berkeley in 2009, the Holmes Lectures at Harvard Law School in 2009, the Hamlyn Law Lectures in England in 2011, and the Gifford Lectures in Edinburgh in 2015.


Courses

  • Modern Legal Philosophy Seminar: The Books

    In this seminar, we will read and discuss substantial portions of the following four books: Ronald Dworkin, Law's Empire (1986) John Finnis, Natural Law and Natural Rights (1980) H.L.A. Hart, The Concept of Law ( 2nd ed., 1994) Hans Kelsen, Pure Theory of Law (1930) This class gives students an opportunity to study and criticize sustained pieces of argument in modern analytical jurisprudence, and to become acquainted in detail with the most important works of twentieth century legal philosophy.

  • Rule of Law

    This course is devoted to the study of the Rule of Law (ROL)as a legal/political ideal and the issues and controversies that it gives rise to. As well as a brief survey of the history of this ideal, we will consider the following topics: (1) ROL and the use of discretion in difficult cases;(2) sovereignty, constitutionalism and the ROL; (3) F.A. Hayek on ROL and liberty; (4) Lon Fuller on the internal morality of law; (5) ROL and the choice of rules versus standards; (6) thin versus thick (or substantive) conceptions of ROL; (7) legal indeterminacy and ROL; (8) the authoritarian implications of ROL; (9) ROL and the modern administrative state; (10) ROL and the role of courts, judicial reasoning, and precedent; (11) ROL in international law; (12) ROL and nation-building / democratization; (13) the war on terrorism and ROL.

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Publications

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Education

  • DPhil (Law), Oxford University, 1986
  • LLB, University of Otago, with honors, 1978
  • BA (Philosophy), University of Otago, with honors, 1974

Honors and Activities

  • Fellow, British Academy, 2011
  • Phillips Prize, for lifetime achievement in jurisprudence, American Philosophical Society, 2011
  • Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa, University of Otago, New Zealand, 2005

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