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"The good ending" [2019] ELECD 814; in McIlroy, David (ed), "The End of Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) 95

Book Title: The End of Law

Editor(s): McIlroy, David

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section: Chapter 6

Section Title: The good ending

Number of pages: 17

Abstract/Description:

The conception of deep justice which rulers present to their subjects offers an account of how their subjects deserve to be treated and an account of the goods which their rule will make available for their subjects to pursue. Augustine defined a political community as united by common objects of love, by the shared goods which they pursue. Liberal conceptions of deep justice have eschewed discussion of the good. Nonetheless, human rights and economic theories have functioned as common objects of love in the West since the Second World War. Critical natural law theory inspired by Augustine insists that justice can only be done if the common good is attended to but that the law should give subjects and social institutions freedom to pursue distinct goods in different ways.