Faultless Guilt: Toward A Relationship Based View Of Criminal Liability, Amy Sepinwall
Dec 2016
Faultless Guilt: Toward A Relationship Based View Of Criminal Liability, Amy Sepinwall
Amy J. Sepinwall
There is in the criminal law perhaps no principle more canonical than the fault principle, which holds that one may be punished only where one is blameworthy, and one is blameworthy only where one is at fault. Courts, criminal law scholars, moral philosophers and textbook authors all take the fault principle to be the foundational requirement for a just criminal law. Indeed, perceived threats to the fault principle in the mid-Twentieth Century yielded no less an achievement than the drafting of the Model Penal Code, which had as its guiding purpose an effort to safeguard faultless conduct from criminal condemnation. …
The Jewel In The Crown: Can India’S Strict Liability Doctrine Deepen Our Understanding Of Tort Law Theory?, Deepa Badrinarayana
Dec 2016
The Jewel In The Crown: Can India’S Strict Liability Doctrine Deepen Our Understanding Of Tort Law Theory?, Deepa Badrinarayana
Deepa Badrinarayana
The evolution of tort law in former British colonies is not only fascinating; it also holds clues into the age old question of whether law or any discrete area of law can be universal. The exploration into doctrinal divergences and convergences is part of a larger quest: to capture the theoretical underpinnings of tort law and, in that process, discover the universal core of tort law, if there is one. For example, is the central purpose of tort law efficient resource allocation, corrective justice, or simply a compensatory system for wrongs? To answer these questions, theorists have generally considered tort …
»A Kőkorszak Metafizikája« És A »Szép Új Világ«: Herbert Hart A Jog Emberképéről [‘The Metaphysics Of The Stone Age’ And The ‘Brave New World’: Hart On The Law’S View Of Man], Péter Cserne
Dec 2013
»A Kőkorszak Metafizikája« És A »Szép Új Világ«: Herbert Hart A Jog Emberképéről [‘The Metaphysics Of The Stone Age’ And The ‘Brave New World’: Hart On The Law’S View Of Man], Péter Cserne
Péter Cserne
This paper analyses H.L.A. Hart’s views on the epistemic character of the law’s assumptions about human behaviour, as articulated in Causation in the Law and Punishment and Responsibility. Hart suggests that the assumptions behind legal doctrines typically combine common sense factual beliefs, moral intuitions, and philosophical theories of earlier ages with sound moral principles, and empirical knowledge. An important task of legal theory is to provide a ‘rational and critical foundation’ for these doctrines. This does not only imply conceptual clarification in light of an epistemic ideal of objectivity but also involves legal theorists in ‘enlightenment’ about empirical facts, ‘demystification’ …
Rehumanizing Law: A Theory Of Law And Democracy (Preface & Introduction), Randy D. Gordon
Apr 2011
Rehumanizing Law: A Theory Of Law And Democracy (Preface & Introduction), Randy D. Gordon
Randy D. Gordon
When we think of “law” in a popular sense, we think of “rules” or the institutions that make or enforce those rules (legislatures, the police, courts, etc.). But where do these rules come from and what makes them legal rules? Put differently, does a rule’s status as a legal rule mean that it is sealed off from the influence of other systems of human knowledge and inquiry (like the humanities)? There are many possible answers to these questions, but the one that I am concerned to examine in my work arises from narrative, which is one of the most fundamental …
The Union Of Legal And Political Theory, Noel B. Reynolds
Feb 2010
The Union Of Legal And Political Theory, Noel B. Reynolds
Noel B Reynolds
This paper explores the social science concept of conventions as a way of understanding law that would bridge the enduring gap between natural law and legal positivist legal theories. It further finds in the conventionalist approach a promising account of the rule of law—both in how it may be characterized and in how it can be assessed in particular legal systems.
Rule And Exception In Criminal Law (Or, Are Criminal Defenses Necessary?), Janine Young Kim
Dec 2006
Rule And Exception In Criminal Law (Or, Are Criminal Defenses Necessary?), Janine Young Kim
Janine Kim
The advent of new defensive claims, such as the battered woman's defense and the cultural defense, has led to debates that invoke a variety of important legal and political principles on both sides of the issues. But asking whether we ought to adopt new defenses in the criminal law raises a more fundamental question: why do we ever adopt defenses in the criminal law? Two simple reasons come to mind - (1) defenses may be necessary to our system of criminal law, or (2) defenses may be good for our system of criminal law. In this Article, I consider what …