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Full-Text Articles in Law
May It Please The Court, David F. Forte
May It Please The Court, David F. Forte
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
As Alexander Hamilton noted, judges have no power of the purse. They have no army. Their only weapon is the reasons they proffer.
A Sign Of Contradiction, David F. Forte
A Sign Of Contradiction, David F. Forte
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
Hadley Arkes offers a brilliant manifesto for natural law. In it, he suggests that judges do not pay enough attention to reason, that their realm of reason is too circumscribed—and he levels the criticism at both modern liberal and conservative judges. He urges them to reach out specifically to the principles of the natural law. Yet the judges resist the invitation. They seem always to have resisted the invitation. Why is that so? Why are natural law reasons resisted?, Arkes asks. Why do judges not seek a proper grounding of their judgment in natural law?
Eve Without Adam: What Genesis Can Teach America About The Natural Law, David F. Forte
Eve Without Adam: What Genesis Can Teach America About The Natural Law, David F. Forte
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
I wish to make but three points. First, I want to discuss something of the history of the alliance between faith and reason in Western intellectual history and their estrangement. Second, by referring to some of the elements of the Book of Genesis, I would like to affirm the basic compatibility between the principles of natural law and the values of our religious heritage. Finally, I raise a caution regarding religious doctrine and liberty that any effective and principled alliance between faith and reason must deal with.
Natural Law And The Limits To Judicial Review, David F. Forte
Natural Law And The Limits To Judicial Review, David F. Forte
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
The very premise of judicial review in America is rooted in the structure of natural law. Judges have no authority to make any kind of law. They can only enforce and apply authoritatively passed positive law. But if the positive law has not been enacted, either in form or substance, without proper authority, then if the judge should enforce such a law, he would in fact be making new positive law, and would be acting outside of his authority.
Nurture And Natural Law, David F. Forte
Nurture And Natural Law, David F. Forte
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
The state cannot take the place of the nurturing acts between individuals. It can assist the formation of those relationships. It can seek to prevent the vulnerabilities present in intimate relationships from resulting in harm (spousal abuse or abortion, for example), but it cannot construct its own alternative to how humans can beneficially interact. It can coordinate the generic basics of security, subsistence, and education; it can encourage patterns of nurturing (parental involvement in education, a wider range of information available in abortion decisions, welfare policies that reward bonding and independence); it can seek to prevent harm (rescuing those in …
Natural Law As Practical Methodology: A Finnisian Analysis Of City Of Richmond V. Croson, David R. Barnhizer
Natural Law As Practical Methodology: A Finnisian Analysis Of City Of Richmond V. Croson, David R. Barnhizer
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
The first part of this article examines some of the main features of Finnis's theory of natural law. It suggests that Finnis offers a "soft" theory of natural law anchored in a richer and more realistic conception of human nature than has generally characterized natural law theory. The article's second part briefly describes some methodological aspects of Finnis's theory. The third part seeks to apply Finnis's principles to Justice O'Connor's opinion in City of Richmond v. J. A. Croson Co., a decision that makes it extremely difficult for state and local governments to combat the subtle devises and consequences of …
Natural Law And Natural Laws, David F. Forte
Natural Law And Natural Laws, David F. Forte
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
Modern science has developed the notion of "natural laws" to describe the apparent sequential patterns of the most complex parts of the physical world. But it cannot tell us what we ought to do about arms production, or human sexuality or abortion or race, or death. Non-teleological science can no more tell us that nuclear fusion is immoral than it can tell us what is the natural purpose of the solar system. Natural Law, however, can tell us what ought to be done in light of the nature of law. If indeed the nature of law is that it is …
Ideology And History, David F. Forte
Ideology And History, David F. Forte
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
I do not dispute the philosophical validity of the theory of natural rights. Indeed, I support much, if not most, of the principles embodied in that theory. What I wish to discuss is that to which Dr. Vieira claims to have limited his discussion, viz., the belief that history, specifically American constitutional history, provides a sufficient base to support a natural rights theory. His attempt to find historical support is an instructive example of how ideology can distort the data of history and cause it to be portrayed in a strange and unreal light. Beyond that, Vieira's historical method also …
On Teaching Natural Law, David F. Forte
On Teaching Natural Law, David F. Forte
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
With the materials at hand which this appendix has listed, an instructor can better sort and choose from all categories, so as to concentrate more effectively, on those aspects of natural law legal theory and practice which he deems valuable for his students.