Purposive Interpretation in Law »

Aharon Barak was president of the Supreme Court of Israel until his retirement in 2006. He is the author of Judicial Discretion, The Judge in a Democracy, numerous articles in English-language law journals, and several books in Hebrew. He is the winner of the 2006 Gruber Justice Prize from the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation. He is the author of "Judicial Discretion" (Yale), numerous articles in English-language law journals, and several books in Hebrew.

"This book offers a comprehensive—indeed magisterial—account of and argument for a more or less unified approach to the interpretation of legal items—rules, regulations, statutes, contracts, wills, trusts, and constitutions. Its thesis is novel and will generate both thought and controversy. That a judge of Aharon Barak's prominence has produced a work of such scholarly depth, jurisprudential insight, and care in research and documentation is itself a major accomplishment."—Frederick Schauer, Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, author of Playing by the Rules and Profiles, Probabilities, and Stereotypes

"This book provides the carefully worked out and sifted results of concentrated thought by a leading judicial scholar and intellect on a topic of first importance to law. Justice Barak puts his approach, called 'purposive interpretation,' on display in elaborate detail that makes his presentation a formidable one. He is a deeply experienced, eminent judge with a deserved reputation for high intelligence, scholarship, wisdom, and reflectiveness about the work of judging—qualities plainly in evidence here."—Frank I. Michelman, Robert Walmsley University Professor of Law, Harvard University, author of Brennan and Democracy

David Pannick, QC - The Times

One of the most respected judges serving today is Aharon Barak, President of the Supreme Court of Israel. His commitment to the rule of law and constitutional rights, and his encyclopedic knowledge of the history, case law and principles of a wide variety of legal systems, are at the heart of Purposive Interpretation in Law. In this major work of legal philosophy, Barak develops a legal theory to explain how judges should resolve cases which depend on the interpretation of texts, whether contracts, statutes or constitutions.