"Law Like Love": Jeff Murphy, RIP

Following up on Marc's post, I was very sorry to learn of the passing of Prof. Jeffrie Murphy.  He was a wonderful scholar, deeply engaged with moral questions, and -- to me -- a kind and generous mentor when I started teaching Criminal Law (and since).  For several years now, I've been concluding my course with his "Law Like Love" essay.  Take a look.  Here's the SSRN abstract:

This is a transcript of the Kharas Distinguished Lecture that was delivered in March of 2004 at Syracuse University College of Law. John Rawls has famously said that justice is the first virtue of social and legal institutions. This lecture seeks to open a discussion of the question: What would law - particularly criminal law - be like if we regarded love (agape) as the first virtue of social and legal institutions? The lecture discusses punishment - including capital punishment - in a framework of love, and critically considers the claim frequently made that love-based forgiveness is inconsistent with capital punishment and perhaps with all punishment.