Prelude to a Theory of Discrimination Law

Abstract

George Rutherglen's contribution to this volume poses a thought-provoking challenge to anyone thinking about the theory of discrimination law. This chapter offers some thoughts inspired by Rutherglen's contribution. The first section considers the claim that discrimination law lacks internal coherence, that there is no common thread running through all the norms that together constitute the body of law called ?discrimination law?. The second section examines another aspect of Rutherglen's work, which based on an important assumption about the purpose of legal theory ? that the proper role of legal theory is to determine the outcome of adjudication in hard cases. It is shown that this assumpt..