This book examines the relationship between the idea of legitimacy of law in a democratic system and equality. It seeks to demonstrate how a conception of democratic legitimacy is necessary for understanding and reconciling equality and political legitimacy.

Wojciech Sadurski is Professor of Legal Theory and Philosophy of Law in the European University Institute in Florence, and also professor of Legal Philosophy in the University of Sydney. He has written extensively on philosophy of law, political philosophy and constitutional theory.

• Introduction


• 1: Law's Legitimacy and Democracy


• Legitimacy of Law and the "Service Conception" of Authority


• Authority and Identification of Valid Law


• "Service Conception" and Democracy


• Justification and Obligation


• "Democracy without Values"?


• "Democracy without values" in the constitutional sense


• Conclusion


• 2: Political Equality and Majority Rule


• Majority Rule and legitimacy: a Shortcut Link?


• Majority Rule and Intensity of Preferences


• Vote Trading and Equality


• Majority Rule, Unanimity and Equal Respect


• Majority Rule an the "Aggregation of Wills"


• Outcomes and Procedures: "Detached" and "Dependent" Conceptions of Democracy


• Equality of Influence, of Impact, and of Political Opportunity


• Equality of Political Opportunity and Majority Rule


• Conclusion


• 3: Legal Equality


• Equality before and in the Law


• Equality in Law: A Non-Negotiable, Fundamentally Ambiguous Ideal


• The "No Differential Treatment" Standard


• Per se Theories and Immutable Characteristics


• Relevance, Circularity, and Levels of Scrutiny


• Suspectness and Discrimination


• Conclusion


• 4: Social Equality (I): The Contours of Social Equality


• Social Equality: Individualized and Collective


• "Natural and Social Lottery"


• Self-Ownership and the "Extensions" of a Right over One's Body


• Self: Thick and Thin


• Common Pool of Natural Abilities?


• Conclusion


• 5: Social Equality (II): Luck Egalitarianism and Its Limits


• Luck and Responsibility in "Luck Egalitarianism"


• Luck Egalitarianism and Moral Intuitions about Equality


• Equality of Resources, of Welfare, and the Status of Preferences


• Persons, Circumstances and Talents in Luck Egalitarianism


• Resources and Welfare: Shortening the Gap


• How Egalitarian is Luck Egalitarianism?