Kramer was born in Massachusetts and educated at Middleborough High School, Cornell University (B.A.
in Philosophy) where he became a member of Phi Beta Kappa society, Harvard University (J.D.)
His twenty books as author and four as co-editor, as well as his dozens of journal articles, range over many areas of legal, political and moral philosophy.
In opposition to many other theorists, Kramer argues that these functions of moral principles are consistent with all the essential characteristics of any legal system.
He is also a leading proponent of the legal positivist argument that law and morality are separable, arguing against the position of natural-law theory, which portrays legal requirements as a species of moral requirements.