Zwecke im Recht des Verfassungsstaates

Law in a democratic society is widely understood to be goal-oriented or a means to an end. Accordingly, legal practitioners frequently refer to the intent of the legislator or to the purpose of a law when interpreting a statute. However, legal theorists criticize these concepts as either inappropriate reifications or unnecessary fictions. This book argues that law can properly be conceptualized in terms of agency and that parliamentary legislation shows signs of - collective - intentionality.