The Law as a Social Practice

This chapter explores features characteristic of the Lewisean and Bratmanian models of social facts–models of what the author call hypercommittal social practices and show that models of social facts that have these features ought not to be used to explain the way in which a social practice is at the foundations the law.’ It argues against continuing to employ certain models of social practices to explain how the foundations of law are social practices. The chapter explores example of a Bratmanian analysis of legal institutions in order to illustrate how Bratman’s theory is used to analyze the way in which legal institution are social practices. It concludes that hypercommittal social practices such as Lewisean conventions or Bratmanian shared activities are not at the foundations of law.