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AN INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEW

DR MYRA E.J.B. WILLIAMSON

Social theory and law

Slideshow #1 Summer Semester 2015

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What is jurisprudence?

This course is within a broader field of knowledge called “jurisprudence”. This word has a different meaning in English to what you might expect.

Jurisprudence:

“It is the theory and philosophy of law”

It is “A subdivision of philosophy of law dealing with ethical questions concerning the administration of justice within a society”

It is “The philosophy of law” – Hames and Ekern Introduction to Law, p4.

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What is the philosophy of law all about?

Legal philosophers ask questions such as “What is law?” “Why do we need law?” “Why do people obey the law?” “What should the law be?” “Is law connected to morality?”

Jurisprudence (the philosophy of law) looks at the origins of law, the meaning of law and the relationship between law and morality

Scholars who are interested in these questions are referred to by a variety of different names, for example: Legal philosophers Legal theorists Scholars, academics etc

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The connection between law and morality

“Morality - a study of standards of behaviour that we want others to observe and so are bound by ourselves, including moral rules about keeping promises and ideals such as truthfulness and fairness.

Ethics – …determining moral courses of action (normative ethics), how moral capacity and agency develops (moral psychology), observance of values (descriptive ethics)

Social ethics - social responses to problems to which society does not have a definitive answer.

Professional ethics – applying morality and social ethics to relevant occupations.” This is taken from Professor Andrew Book, “Legal Ethics at the

Initial Stage: A Model Curriculum”( The Law Society, 2010) p13

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Four primary schools of thought

Western jurisprudence/philosophy of law has (arguably) at least 4 main schools of thought:

1. Natural law2. Legal Positivism3. Legal Realism

- Some say LR was a reaction to Legal Formalism, so, what is Legal Formalism?

4. Critical Legal Studies1. Feminist Legal Theory2. Critical Race Theory3. Other offshoots:

1. Critical Race Feminism, 2. LatCrit (Latino critical race studies), 3. AsianCrit (Asian-American critical race studies) etc

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Natural Law

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Natural Law - I

What is it? The theory that law reflects moral and unchangeable laws of nature – Hames & Ekern, p.4

Natural law is an idea that entails the following: “What naturally is, also ought to be” – Wacks, p11 It provides a name for the intersection between law and morals - ibid There are rational objective limits to the power of legislative rulers The foundations of law are accessible through human reason, and Tt is from these laws of nature that human created laws gain

whatever force they have. The last 3 points are taken from Shiner, "Philosophy of Law", Cambridge

Dictionary of Philosophy

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Natural Law II – general ideas

Natural law theorists believe that there are eternal and unchangeable laws in nature and that man-made laws must correspond to them as closely as possible.

Since it comes from nature, natural law must be universalIt exists because we are human: its inherent in human beingsIt is said to be universal, eternal & unchangeableIf a man-made law does not reflect the moral and unchangeable

laws of nature, then the law is not really a law at all and it doesn’t need to be obeyed

Historically, natural law has a close relationship with morality and with the intentions of God but not all natural law theorists believed in God

Natural law theorists would (generally) say: “an unjust law is not law at all and we don’t need to obey it”

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Natural Law III

Examples of philosophers who adhered to natural law included: Plato Aristotle (the “father” of natural law”) Socrates Cicero St Thomas Aquinas

Aristotle in the Rhetoric: aside from the "particular" laws that each people has set up for itself,

there is a "common" law that is according to nature.

St Thomas Aquinas: Natural law is the human "participation" in the eternal law and it is

discovered by reason

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Natural Law IV

We will look at three famous Natural Law theorists:CiceroAquinas John FinnisWe may also briefly consider natural law and Islam e.g. Ibn Rushd (in English, known as ‘Averroes’) who is famous for translating and explaining Aristotle’s writing. Averroes/Ibn Rushd thought that humans know by nature of the wrongness of killing and stealing. Humans know of the 5 ‘maqasid’ or ‘higher intents’ or goals: religion, life, lineage, intellect and propertyThere is a separate slideshow on Natural Law for

more detail (slideshow #2)

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Legal Positivism

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Legal Positivism I

What is it? The validity of law is not related to morality. If a law is properly formed, then it is a valid law.

Hames and Ekern, p.4

Legal Positivism: there is no necessary connection between law and

morality the force of law comes from some basic social facts

although positivists differ on what those facts are.

Soper, "Legal Positivism", Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy

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Legal Positivism II

Law is law because it is “posited”, that is, laws are validly made or put down in accordance with socially accepted rules.

Provided a law is properly formed, in accordance with the rules recognized in the society concerned, it is a valid law, regardless of whether it is just

So, law and morality are not necessarily connected: to be a ‘law’, the rules for making laws must be followed, and nothing more

Consider some examples: Apartheid South Africa Nazi GermanyQuestion: Is a “bad” law still a law?

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Legal Positivism III

Famous Legal Positivists include: Jeremy Bentham - classic John Austin - classic H.L.A. Hart – modern

Bentham: an action is good if it tends to promote happiness, so the greatest happiness of the greatest number is the measure of right and wrong (utilitarianism)

Austin: If you asked Austin "what is law?” he would answer: law is a set of commands, backed by the threat of sanctions, issued by a sovereign, to whom people have a habit of obedience (command theory)

Hart: As the chair of jurisprudence at Oxford University, Hart argued that law is a 'system of rules’ consisting of primary and secondary rules (law as a system of rules)

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Legal Positivism IV - Hart

H.L.A. Hart – 1907-1992Most famous book: The Concept of Law, 1961Primary rules (rules of conduct) and secondary rules

(rules addressed to officials to administer primary rules). Secondary rules are divided into rules of adjudication (to resolve legal disputes), rules of change (allowing laws to be varied) and the rule of recognition (allowing laws to be identified as valid).*

The "rule of recognition“ = a customary practice of the officials (especially judges) that identifies certain acts and decisions as sources of law.

Other important legal positivists**

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Legal Realism

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Legal realism

What is it? Legal realists believe that laws are created by men and are therefore subject to the pitfalls created by men

Hames & Ekern, p.5

Legal realism argues that the real world practice of law is what determines what law is; the law has the force that it does because of what legislators, judges, and executives do with it.

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Legal Realism II

Skeptical in tone, Legal Realism holds that the law should be understood and determined by the actual practices of courts, law offices, and police stations, rather than as the rules and doctrines set forth in statutes or learned treatises.

All law is made by human beings and, thus, is subject to human foibles, frailties and imperfections.

Examples of Legal Realists: Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Jerome Frank Karl Llewellyn

Some handouts will help us to understand their theories

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Critical Legal Studies

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Critical Legal Studies

What is it? A younger theory of jurisprudence Developed since the 1970s Takes a negative view of law Says law is contradictory and can be best analyzed as an

expression of the policy goals of the dominant social group Rejects that law is neutral

Critical Legal Studies (CLS) originated out of American Legal Realism

Not a single, coherent theory but there are some frequent themes

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Critical Legal Studies (CLS) II

Some common themes: legal materials (such as statutes and case law) do not

completely determine the outcome of legal disputes all "law is politics” tends to serve the interests of the wealthy and the powerful

by protecting them against the demands of the poor and the subaltern (women, ethnic minorities, the working class, indigenous peoples, the disabled, homosexuals etc.) for greater justice

CLS continues as a diverse collection of schools of thought and social movements. The CLS community is an extremely broad group with clusters of critical theorists at law schools

See slideshow #3 for more details

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Conclusion

Legal theorists are interested in the “big” questions about law, morality and society

Scholars are seeking answers to questions that cannot be properly answered or answered absolutely – but the discussion about them is still important

You need to have a general understanding that this body of law exists and of the importance of it

You need to be able to : 1) Understand what scholars have written about their theories 2) Form your own opinion about those theories – in other

words, be able to critically evaluate them 3) Apply those theories to practice and demonstrate your own

arguments by using examples.