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Finnis, John

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Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy

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Introduction

John Mitchell Finnis (1940-present) is a Catholic legal philosopher specialized in philosophy of law and ethics. He has notably contributed to New Natural Law theory, which is grounded on the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. Finnis has written extensively on jurisprudence, philosophy, law, theology, and history.

Finnis is a Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame (South Bend, IN), and in 2010 he became an Emeritus Professor of law at University College, Oxford. He married Marie C. McNally in 1964, has 6 children, and is a dual citizen of Australia (from birth) and the United Kingdom (2004).

Education and Career

Finnis attended St. Peter’s College, Adelaide (1947–1957) and Adelaide University (1958–1961). In 1962, he won the Rhodes scholarship at University College, Oxford (1962–1965) where he completed his D. Phil with a doctoral thesis on the concept of judicial power, titled “The Idea of Judicial Power, with special reference to Australian federal constitutional...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO, USA

    Allison Postell

Authors
  1. Allison Postell
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Correspondence to Allison Postell .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for International & Comparative Law, University of Baltimore School of Law, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Mortimer Sellers

  2. Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften, University of Salzburg, Austria, Salzburg, Austria

    Stephan Kirste

Section Editor information

  1. Philosophy Department, Villanova University, Villanova, PA, USA

    Sally Scholz Ph.D

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Postell, A. (2018). Finnis, John. In: Sellers, M., Kirste, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6730-0_386-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6730-0_386-1

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