Abstract
Can law be as neutral and value-free as legal positivists seek to demonstrate, or is law steeped in inescapable moral values? Is Hart's focus upon the ‘municipal legal system’ still helpful in our age of globalization and pluralism? If law does have a purpose, what might it be? Can it secure greater justice for all who share our troubled planet? None of these questions has a simple answer. But ‘Understanding law: a very short epilogue’ suggests that it is in their asking — and careful reflection upon them — that we might better understand the nature and purpose of law, and thereby perhaps secure a more just society.
