PHIL 2435 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Frosted Flakes
Document Summary
Key tenants of positivism: identify laws by looking at where they came from (not their content) Austin - he does look at where they came from. Hart - he looks at rules of recognition. One possible rule of recognition is laws that are commanded by the: the set of these valid legal rules is exhaustive of the law sovereign. If someone"s case is not clearly covered by such a rule, that case cannot be decided by applying the law . Dworkin argues that there is a further level of complexity that hart"s view doesn"t account for. Makes a distinction between legal rules and legal principles. Legal principles - they have a dimension of weight/importance (can be outweighed) In riggs v. palmer, the decision was made based on legal principles. Discretion only makes sense against a background of an authority that provides standards for action. Allowing kid to choose a healthy cereal example.
