Legal Theory draws contributions not only from academic law, but from a wide range of related disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, including philosophy, political science, economics, history and sociology. Legal Theory publishes work on a broad range of topics, including but not limited to analytical jurisprudence, normative jurisprudence, policy analyses of legal institutions and doctrines, theories of law as a social or cultural phenomenon, and critical perspectives on law and legal institutions.
Ratio Juris is a leading international journal of philosophy of law and general jurisprudence. It provides a truly international and trans-cultural forum for the communication of philosophical ideas about law and legal questions. Ratio Juris is open to scholars from all backgrounds and traditions, legal, philosophical, political, cultural and linguistic.
The Oxford Journal of Legal Studies is published on behalf of the Faculty of Law in the University of Oxford. It is designed to contribute to understanding in all matters relating to law. While the Journal has an emphasis on theoretical work and on broad issues arising from the relationship of law to other disciplines, no topic of legal interest and no approach to scholarship is excluded. The Journal welcomes outstanding original contributions in doctrinal and critical scholarship on domestic and international law, and contributions to comparative law, to legal history, and to legal philosophy.
Ethics features scholarly work that covers a range of topics pertaining to moral, political, and legal philosophy from a variety of intellectual perspectives, including social and political theory, law, and economics. Articles in the journal present new theories, apply theory to contemporary moral issues, and focus on historical works that have significant implications for contemporary theory. In addition to major articles, Ethics publishes critical discussions, symposia, review essays, and book reviews.
NOMOS is the annual yearbook of the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy. The ASPLP was begun in 1955 by Carl Friedrich to bring together a group of political scientists, philosophers and law scholars interested in exploring legal and political philosophy outside of their home disciplines. The main activity of the society is its annual meeting held on a topic chosen in advance by the ASPLP membership, at which three papers—one from each of the participating disciplines—are presented. The society publishes these papers, along with formal commentary and invited additional essays, in the NOMOS volumes.
The American Journal of Jurisprudence is an international journal publishing critical discussions of the moral foundations of law and legal systems, exploring current and historical issues in ethics, philosophy of law or jurisprudence, and legal (including constitutional) theory.
Jurisprudence provides a forum for scholarly writing on the philosophy of law. While demanding the utmost intellectual honesty, clarity and scholarly rigour, its editorial policy is distinctively open-minded in relation to philosophical approach. A main purpose of the journal is to encourage scholarship which explores and transcends the categories and assumptions on which contemporary jurisprudential debates are conducted, and to stimulate reflection upon traditional questions concerning the nature of law, politics and society. The journal's unique reviews section will provide in-depth discussion and analysis of major developments in the field.
Law and Literature was started in 1988 as the journal of the Law and Literature movement. It has since become the leading interdisciplinary law journal directed to law and the arts, with a specific focus on critical theory, historical inquiry, and literary expression in its diverse media and forms. It welcomes articles examining intersections between literary and legal traditions, and provides a forum for reconsidering disciplinary boundaries and categories.
Washington University Jurisprudence Review is the only student-edited, in-print journal of jurisprudence in the United States. The Jurisprudence Review promotes academic discussion and scholarship at the nexus of law and legal theory by publishing works that contribute to analytic, normative, and comparative jurisprudence from scholars both within and without the legal academy. We also seek to enrich the law school experience by fostering critical analysis of the suppositions and theories that underpin the law school curriculum.
Since its inception in 1989, the Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities (YJLH) has become a premier forum for examining the intersection of law and the liberal arts. Grounded in the ever-deepening awareness that cutting-edge interdisciplinary exploration is crucial to a fuller understanding of both the law and the world at large, YJLH provides a unique intellectual arena to scholars of several disciplines.
The Current Legal Problems (CLP) annual volume is published on behalf of University College London, Faculty of Laws, and features scholarly articles that offer a critical analysis of important current legal issues. It covers all areas of legal scholarship and features a wide range of methodological approaches to law. It is based on the Faculty of Laws' flagship public lecture series, which were established over sixty years ago, are public and often chaired by members of the judiciary.
The International Journal of Law in Context provides a forum for interdisciplinary legal studies and offers intellectual space for ground-breaking critical research. It is not committed to any particular theory, ideology or methodology and invites papers from a variety of standpoints, ideologies, perspectives, and methods. It publishes contextual work about law and its relationship with other disciplines including but not limited to science, literature, humanities, philosophy, sociology, psychology, ethics, history and geography. The journal aims to explore and expand the boundaries of law and legal studies.
The Journal of Political Philosophy is an international journal devoted to the study of theoretical issues arising out of moral, legal and political life. It welcomes, and hopes to foster, work cutting across a variety of disciplinary concerns, among them philosophy, sociology, history, economics and political science.
Law and Philosophy serves as a forum for the publication of work in law and philosophy that is of common interest to individuals in the disciplines of jurisprudence and legal philosophy. The journal publishes articles that use all approaches in both fields. In addition, it publishes work in any of the major legal traditions, including common law, civil law, and the socialist tradition.
The Canadian Journal of Law & Jurisprudence serves as a forum for special and general jurisprudence and legal philosophy. It publishes articles that address the nature of law, that engage in philosophical analysis or criticism of legal doctrine, that examine the form and nature of legal or judicial reasoning, that investigate issues concerning the ethical aspects of legal practice, and that study (from a philosophical perspective) concrete legal issues facing contemporary society. The journal does not use case notes, nor does it publish articles focussing on issues particular to the laws of a single nation.
The Canadian Journal of Law & Jurisprudence is published on behalf of the Faculty of Law, Western University.
The Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy is unique among legal periodicals because it directly analyzes law and public policy from an ethical perspective. The Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy strengthens the Law School’s moral and religious commitment by translating traditional Judeo-Christian principles into imaginative, yet workable, proposals for legislative and judicial reform. Directed at both scholarly and public audiences, the Journal publishes in a symposium format and solicits contributions from distinguished scholars and prominent members of the public community.
There are a number of U.S. and U.K. journals on jurisprudence and legal philosophy available in the law library. Most are available on HeinOnline; however, some are also available on JSTOR, Academic Search Complete, and the Social Science Research Network (SSRN). Top U.S. and U.K. journals are listed below with links to the individual journal's homepage. Journals available on HeinOnline have a HeinOnline icon next to the title. Click on the icon to go to the journal in HeinOnline. For a list of the top ranked journals in jurisprudence and legal theory, see the W&L Law Journal Rankings.
U.S. Journals
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