Rethinking Self-Defence: The 'Ancient Right's' Rationale Disentangled

This book advances the self-defence discussion by introducing a value-centric dialogue and providing an account of the underlying values providing the rationale for self-defence.

The book offers valuable insights not only into the public's perception of what a 'right' or 'just' outcome is, but also, and for the purposes of the instant enquiry more importantly, into the emphasis legal systems place (and should place) on the relative importance of the defender and the attacker's respective rights to autonomy and non-interference.

These differences in emphasis, in turn, yield very different real-world outcomes. By understanding the value-based decision-grounds, the author argues that we can avoid the hidden normativity and false dichotomies characterising the self-defence debate and, instead, focus on a more fulsome and explicit discussion over the core values a society can - and should - accept as potential self-defence decision-grounds.