Political Science 2231E Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Positive Law

• School: Western University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: Political Science 2231E
• Professor: Richard Van de Wetering

Document Summary

Will mostly focus on liberal ideas of law. A vision of law as attached to a legal system. Positive law, human law laws that are made by legislatures. Moral philosophical discussions about laws usually involve other people and the obligations we have to other people, including foreigners. Suggests that humans have a claim above the legal system law outside of legislature or enforcement that exists, above positive laws created by states. View the world in terms of economic relations. Looking at legal system and morality these are the product of economic relations. Those who control means of production end up controlling everything else. Created to justify or secure the economic relations which exist. What is perceived as an international legal system false versions of legitimate, built on unjust economic relations. International law is used by the core to punish the semi-periphery and the periphery. Even icc focuses on peripheral countries rather than superpowers. Sort of has been hidden or perverted.