This book investigates one of the oldest questions of legal philosophy -- the relationship between law and legitimacy. It analyses the legal theories of three public lawyers of the Weimar era, Carl Schmitt, Hans Kelsen, and Hermann Heller. The subtle contours ... will repay careful and sustained reading ... scholarly and well written ... a powerful antidote to the sad apologetics still being pandered by those who have sought to promote the work of one of fascism's most intelligent theorists.