Alan Brudner is a Canadian legal philosopher and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, known for applying Hegelian philosophy of right to legal theory. His work constructs a systematic, internally coherent account of common law institutions—criminal, private, and constitutional—grounded in the dialectical self-development of the concept of right. He is among the foremost Hegelian legal theorists in the Anglo-American tradition.
Developed a Hegelian systematic account of common law in 'The Unity of the Common Law' (1995)
Articulated a liberal theory of penal justice grounded in rational autonomy in 'Punishment and Freedom' (2009)
Applied Hegel's philosophy of right to constitutional theory in 'Constitutional Goods' (2004)
Analyzed gradations of culpability in criminal law, distinguishing the distinctive wrong of deception from unintentional harm
Established a philosophically rigorous alternative to both positivist and natural law accounts of legal obligation