Felipe Jiménez, USC Gould School of Law Professor of Law and Philosophy, has received the Article Award from the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Jurisprudence for his paper “Legality and Commitment,” published in the Journal of Ethics & Social Philosophy in 2025.
The Jurisprudence Section Article Award is given annually to a tenured or tenure-track scholar in recognition of exceptional philosophical work in legal scholarship. The award honors contributions that advance foundational thinking about the nature of law, legal reasoning and institutional authority.
“I am really thankful for this award and for the recognition of my work,” Jiménez said. “The paper is an attempt to explain how people’s commitments can make it the case that they have reasons to act according to the law, and why the rule of law is a powerful reason why they should in fact adopt those commitments.”
Jiménez’s research spans private law theory, jurisprudence and legal reasoning. In “Legality and Commitment,” he explores the nature of legal obligation and examines how individuals’ commitments can shape their reasons for acting consistently with the law. The paper also looks at the ways those commitments can explain how law can affect behavior independently of sanctions and coercion.
“In some sense, the paper is not especially timely, since it tries to tackle one of the oldest questions in legal and political philosophy — but in another sense, I think it says something important in our current circumstances: the rule of law is not sustainable unless citizens and legal officials are committed to the project of legality,” Jiménez explained.
An official announcement of the award will be made at the AALS Annual Meeting in January 2026 in New Orleans.
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