Preface; Contents; Chapter 1 Introduction; Abstract ; The Focus of the Study; Structure of the Study; Placing the Focus on Law in the Context of Habermas' Thinking; Self-Legislation by Citizens and the Promise of Modernity; Law as Hinge Between Lifeworld and System; Modernity and Subjectivity; What Role Does Law Play in Modern Societies?; References; Chapter 2 The Dialectic of Law and the Modern Legal Form; Abstract ; Introduction; The Dialectic of Legal and Factual Equality; The Dialectic of Law; The Modern Critique of Law; The Modern Legal Form; Conclusions; References.

Chapter 3 Colonisation of the Lifeworld and the Dilemma of Welfare State LawAbstract ; Introduction; Lifeworld and System; Communicative Action and Lifeworld Rationalisation; Systems and the Colonisation of the Lifeworld; Legality and Legitimacy; Juridification and the Ambivalence of Law; Juridification and Colonisation of the Lifeworld; Normalisation and the Dialectic of Law; Conclusions; References; Chapter 4 The Reconstruction of the System of Rights; Abstract ; Introduction; Reconstructing the Relation Between Private and Public Autonomy; The Principle of Democracy and the Legal Form.

The Generation of the Principle of DemocracyThe System of Rights; The Constitutional-Democratic State; The Democratic Circulation of Power; Paradigms of Law and Private Autonomy; Again: Private and Public Autonomy; Conclusions; References; Chapter 5 Conclusions; Abstract ; Index.