ABSTRACT
The recognition of the particular in law is crucial, and any good lawyer or judge should be able to correctly establish the potential instantiation of the abstract into the particular. This is the arduous task of the so-called ‘determination’. In his influential new book, Reciprocal Freedom, Ernest Weinrib elucidates the dynamic relationship of transforming the abstract into a determination. As is usual in his writings, Weinrib shows a perceptive, nuanced, and insightful position on the nature of private law. Nevertheless, I maintain that determination can only occur through the application of practical reason – a deliberative process that aligns with the valuable and the good, rather than solely focussing on the right and the dutiful. In grappling with Weinrib’s masterful work, I thus argue that the fundamental premise of his view is ‘the separation of rights and values’, and I aim to debunk this presupposition.
Verónica Rodríguez-Blanco, Abstraction and Determination in Weinrib’s Reciprocal Freedom: The Dynamics of Backward-Looking and Forward-Looking Deliberation in Judging, Canadian Journal of Law & Jurisprudence. Published online by Cambridge University Press: 9 September 2025.
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