Dr Stefano Bertea

I hold a Law Degree from the University of Modena a PhD in ""Legal Theory and Analytic Philosophy"" from the University of Milan and a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice in Higher Education from the University of Leicester. In my academic career I have been a Marie Skłodowska-Curie research fellow at the University of Edinburgh and at the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main a DFG research fellow at the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main a visiting research fellow at the University of Amsterdam and at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg an Alexander von Humboldt research fellow at the University of Kiel a senior research fellow at the University of Antwerp and a visiting professor at the University of Catanzaro at the University of Verona and at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.

My research interests lie in the fields of jurisprudence political philosophy and theory of legal reasoning.

My work argues that the law is best understood as a collaborative enterprise and thus a project shared (and shaped) by a multitude of legal officials and citizens alike. Thus far my research projects have been concerned with two main issues: judicial reasoning and legal normativity namely the law’s ambition to provide its addressees with practical guidance and justification thereby proffering distinctive reasons for action.

The output of my research work has been published in the form of monographs articles in academic journals and contributions to edited collections. I have also given several talks on my research projects in academic institutions around the world

Authored Books

1. A Theory of Legal Obligation, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2019 (length: pp. 368; ISBN: 9781108475105)

2. The Normative Claim of Law, Oxford: Hart, 2009 (length: pp. 304; ISBN: 9781841139678) 

Edited Books

3. Contemporary Perspectives on Legal Obligation, Oxford, Routledge, 2020 (length: pp. 188;  ISBN: 9780367261986)

4. New Essays on the Normativity of Law, Oxford: Hart, 2011 (length: pp. 336; ISBN: 9781849462389;; co-edited with G. Pavlakos). 

Journal Articles

5. "Critical Remarks on Andrei Marmor's Theory of Legal Obligation", Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy, 42, 2017, 26-46 

6. "A Foundation for the Conception of Law as Practical Reason", Law and Philosophy 34, 2015, 55-88

7. "Law, Shared Activities, and Obligation", Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence 27, 2014, 357-381 

8."Constitutivism and Normativity: A Qualified Defence", Philosophical Explorations 16, 2013, 81-95

9, "The Arguments from Coherence", Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 25, 2005, 369-391 

Book Chapters

10. "Social-Practice Legal Positivism: A Critical View", in P. Mindus and T. Spaak (eds.), Cambridge Companion to Legal Positivism, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2021, 397-418

I welcome PhD applications in the following areas: jurisprudence political philosophy practical philosophy and theory of legal reasoning

Legal normativity practical reason concept of law metaethical constitutivism