The Dworkin Dilemma: How Judges Create Law in the Silence of the Constitution
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: The Dworkin Dilemma: How Judges Create Law in the Silence of the Constitution What happens when the law runs out? For years, the clock above the courthouse in Marne’s Ferry stood frozen, yet the townspeople lived by it as if it held the truth of time itself. In The Dworkin Dilemma, Northon Salomão de Oliveira uses this haunting metaphor to explore one of the most profound and unsettling challenges in legal philosophy: What does a judge do when the constitution falls silent, the statutes offer no guidance, and the future holds disputes the original authors never could have imagined? Is the judge discovering a "right answer" hidden within the law, as Ronald Dworkin argued? Or are they, in their moment of decision, inventing the law itself—retroactively applying rules to citizens who could never have foreseen them? A Deep Dive into the "Interpretive Debt" Moving beyond the traditional, stale debates between legal formalists and realists, Oliveira introduces a new framework: the interpretive debt. This is the obligation a judge incurs when they rule in a vacuum, a legitimacy they can never fully repay because the source of their authority remains unverifiable. This provocative book traces this dilemma across the full spectrum of modern life, offering critical insights into: * The Myth of Legal Memory: How precedent is less a perfect archive and more a continuous, active curation of the past. * The Crisis of Evidence: How the rise of generative AI and synthetic media is eroding the epistemic foundation of the courtroom. * The Burden of Mortality: How the fragility and time-bound nature of the human judge shapes the law in ways formal theory tries to ignore. * The Climate Horizon: How legal frameworks built for a stable past are struggling to adapt to a physically changing planet. The Dworkin Dilemma is not just a book for legal scholars; it is a meditation on the nature of trust, the limits of human authority, and the heavy, necessary responsibility of those who must "set the hands" of justice when no one is watching. Essential reading for anyone interested in the future of the judiciary, the foundations of democratic legitimacy, and the fragile systems that govern our world. Product Details * Format: [e.g., Hardcover / Kindle] * Topic: Legal Philosophy, Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence, Political Science * Reading Level: Academic / Intellectual Non-Fiction * Jurisprudence * Constitutional Law * Interpretive Debt * Legal Philosophy * Adjudication * Synthetic Evidence * Earth System Jurisprudence Jurisprudence, Legal Philosophy, Constitutional Law, Adjudication, Legal Theory, Philosophy of Law, Ronald Dworkin, Legal Interpretation, Legal Construction, Interpretive Debt, Legal Hermeneutics, Rule of Law, Stare Decisis, Legal Precedent, Judicial Discretion, Normative Silence, Legal Reasoning, Judicial Decision Making, Legal Legitimacy, Analytic Jurisprudence, Legal Positivism, Natural Law, Legal Realism, Law and Morality, Legal Ethics, Fidelity to Law, Legal Authorship, Jurisprudential Methodology, Hard Cases, Legal Certainty, Artificial Intelligence, AI Law, Generative AI, Synthetic Media, Digital Evidence, Deepfakes, Law and Technology, Epistemology of Law, Forensic Authentication, Algorithmic Governance, Black Box Algorithms, Machine Learning in Law, Technological Impact on Judiciary, Information Integrity, Evidence Law, Climate Change, Earth System Jurisprudence, Environmental Law, Climate Litigation, Anthropocene, Rights of Nature, Ecological Jurisprudence, Intergenerational Justice, Sustainability, Global Governance, Political Science, Institutional Trust, Social Theory, Critical Legal Studies, Law and Society, Mortality, Judicial Fragility, Temporal Legal Theory, Legal Continuity, Human Agency, Governance, Public Law, Institutional Design, Legal Change, Systemic Risk
Author: Salomao de Oliveira, Northon
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7169506611