Legal positivism

This paper will examine both H.L.A Hart and Ronald Dworkin’s position in the theories of law and will try to determine who has won the ‘famous’ debate between the two. Having considered both sides of the argument, I would have to say that Ronald Dworkin’s argument was better than H.L.A Hart’s argument. In applying both Dworkin and Hart’s theories of law, they come to very different conclusions in regards to the case of Riggs v. Palmer. According to Dworkin’s theory of law, judges do not solely

Legal Validity in the View of Natural Law By: Micah A. Davis October 7, 2014 Abstract In this paper, I will propose that it is better to look at whether a law is legally valid or not through the perspective of natural law theory as opposed to positivist theory. My argument consists mostly of the language of “improvement” which can only exist based on the theory of natural law which states that law is something which has an objective truth behind it. Only when there is an objective

Student number: 1337596 Module code: CL6310 Module title: Jurisprudence (Essay 1) Module leader: Professor John Harrington Essay title: HLA Hart stated that the goal of his theory was ‘an improved analysis of the distinctive structure of a ... legal system and a better understanding of the resemblances and differences between law, coercion, and morality, as types of social phenomena’. Discuss critically the extent to which Hart realized this goal. Word count: 2819 HLA Hart (hereafter Hart)

Law and morality work together to guide our behavior; while law does it by punishing us if we do something wrong, morality does it through incentives. In their articles, both H.L.A Hart in “Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals,” and Lon Fuller’s reply to professor Hart in “Positivism and Fidelity to Law,” discuss the concept of law post world war II Germany and their re-imagining of natural law as put forth by Gustav Radbruch’s theory. In this paper, I hope to show how both law and morality

In applying both Dworkin and Hart’s theories of law, they come to very different conclusions in regards to the case of Riggs v. Palmer. According to Dworkin’s theory of law, judges do not solely focus only on the rules, instead, they focus on seeking right answers. Dworkin has many problems and disagreements with Hart’s theory, one in particular is relating to what Dworkin labels ‘principles and policies’. Dworkin defines a ‘principle’ as a standard that is observed due to it being “a requirement

of Sanctions in a Theory of Law, has two central claims. First, the fact that law is primarily coercive (with the use of sanctions to ensure compliance) has been vastly overlooked in the wake of H.L.A Hart’s critique of John Austin’s work on legal positivism. Second, those who aim to study the philosophical nature of law would be better to examine what makes law truly important and distinctive rather than the necessary and mandatory features of law. In this paper, I will begin by describing Austin’s

King, 1 Sheridan Louise King Midterm POL192b: Legal Theory 1. What is the difference between liberal and difference feminism? In order to differentiate liberal feminism from difference feminism, it is important to clarify on the outset the exact definition of each term. According to Martha Fineman (2005), feminism can be defined as a gender based theory focusing on challenging the assertions and assumption revolving gender neutrality. Specifically, feminism deals with the assumptions and values

Radbruch is against positive law because in a situation of conflict between legal certainty and justice, positive law takes precedence even when the content is unjust and fails to benefit the people. (p.132) This is one of the main reasons why Radbruch criticizes positive law, it fails to create justice for the people. Another reason is that according to Radbruch, positive law is incapable of establishing validity of the statutes. Legal validity states that for a law to be valid, it must be given a rule

appropriate theory of law and the criticism which it has received. The essay then concludes by ?????? Legal positivism is generally based on the principle that Law and morality is distinct and that the validity of a rule depends more on its sources, while Natural law would be more inclined to favour features of reasonableness and the link between morality and law. There are two predominant groups of legal theorists being, Natural law theorists and Positive law theorists, John Austin and HLA Hart

Herbert Lionel Adolphus Hart, was a British Legal Philosopher and worked for University of Oxford as Professor of Jurisprudence. Prof. Hart has written several books and few of his most important writings are, Causation of Law -1959, Concept of Law – 1961, Law liberty and Morality – 1963, Of Laws in General – 1970, and Essays on Bentham – 1982. This article focuses on one of his highly appreciated work, Concept of Law – 1961. The book analyses on the law, morality and fear or threat through which