Law In Books And Law In Action: The Problem Of Legal Change,
University of Maine School of Law
Law In Books And Law In Action: The Problem Of Legal Change
Maine Law Review
One hundred years ago, Roscoe Pound wrote his famous article, “Law in Books and Law in Action.” Considered an important step toward American legal realism, today this article is invoked more for its title than its content. I would argue that in the article, Pound did not clearly distinguish between two separate situations: (1) the departure of decisions of courts from statements of statutory (or constitutional) law, and (2) the discrepancy between doctrine in books and empirical data about law. This second observation has fed various strands of jurisprudence, if often only through the repetition of the well-quoted formula. It …
Austin's Theory Of The Separation Of Law And Morals,
Vanderbilt University Law School
Austin's Theory Of The Separation Of Law And Morals
Vanderbilt Law Review
The lingering influence of the natural law theory in England brought forth a powerful new philosophy of law. The chief features of this new theory were developed by Hobbes and Bentham and found their most compelling formulation in the works of the "analytical"jurist, John Austin. What concerned these men most was how to deal with the existence of morally bad laws. Sir William Blackstone had said in his Commentaries that the laws of God are superior in obligation to all other laws; that no human laws should be allowed to contradict them; that human laws are of no validity if …
The Relation Between Natural Law And Human Law In Thomas Aquinas,
St. John's University School of Law
The Relation Between Natural Law And Human Law In Thomas Aquinas
The Catholic Lawyer
No abstract provided.
On The Incoherence Of Legal Positivism,
Notre Dame Law School
On The Incoherence Of Legal Positivism, John Finnis
Scholarly Works
No abstract provided.
The Natural Law Philosophy Of Lon L. Fuller,
St. John's University School of Law
The Basis Of The Natural Law In Locke's Philosophy,
St. John's University School of Law
The Basis Of The Natural Law In Locke's Philosophy
The Catholic Lawyer
No abstract provided.
On Hart's Ways: Law As Reason And As Fact,
Notre Dame Law School
On Hart's Ways: Law As Reason And As Fact, John Finnis
Journal Articles
This address at the Hart Centenary Conference in Cambridge in July 2007 reflects on foundational elements in Hart's method in legal philosophy. It argues that his understanding of what it is to adopt an internal point of view was flawed by (a) inattention to the difference between descriptive history (or biography or detection) and descriptive general theory of human affairs, (b) inattention to practical reason as argument from premises, some factual but others normative (evaluative) in their content, and (c) relative inattention to the deliberations of law-makers as distinct from subjects of the law. These flaws contributed to a concept …
Natural Rights, Natural Law, And American Constitutions,
Columbia Law School
Natural Rights, Natural Law, And American Constitutions, Philip Hamburger
Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Legal Positivism And The Natural Law: The Controversy Between Professor Hart And Professor Fuller,
Vanderbilt University Law School
Legal Positivism And The Natural Law: The Controversy Between Professor Hart And Professor Fuller
Vanderbilt Law Review
Professor Hart defends legal positivism and Professor Fuller sets out his view of the natural law. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Fuller is against positivism and Hart against natural law. Each is an untypical representative of the varied traditions that bear these names. Each is, at the same time, because of his radical restatement and defense of his positions, probably the most reasonable and least extreme antagonist. In this dialogue, if anywhere, we are likely to discover the true issues and the common ground, if any, between the two positions. In fact each concedes, frankly or …
Plato And The Doctrine Of Natural Law,
Vanderbilt University Law School
Plato And The Doctrine Of Natural Law
Vanderbilt Law Review
As a result of the shocks which the existing social orders have experienced through two World Wars and the Russian Revolution, an intellectual movement is becoming increasingly evident in the Western World--one which, in sharp reaction to a scientific-positivistic and relativistic philosophy, aims at a return to metaphysics and theology, and--closely connected with this--to a renewal of the doctrine of natural law. The proponents of this trend believe they find valuable support in the philosophy of Plato, whose authority until recently was virtually uncontested--and in this they are justified. Plato's doctrine of Ideas is the boldest of metaphysical speculations, for …
