SOSC 2350 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Critical Legal Studies, Legal Realism, Dominant Ideology
20 Mar 2016
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Document Summary
Enduringly influential view of law and its place in society. Dominant ideology of legal profession from 1860s 1930s. Secular and liberal in orientation: separation of church and state protects religious belief systems from being controlled by the state and vice versa. Individual rights: liberalism the individual as having agency , be able to make own decisions, act on them and critique the state) Equality: each individual has the capacity for reason, every individual has the obligation and responsibility to speak up and offer their voices in discussion. The law is resilient and valid because it has representative voices criticizing it and it becomes better because of these critiques. The law is known by everyone and is applied to everyone. Early 20th century (mostly 192o"s-30"s) response to classical legal thought by young legal scholars. Legal reasoning is apolitical, neutral, determinate & objective: legal & political/moral are separate, judges do not make law, they find it.
