PO210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Substantive Law, Distributive Justice, Social Fact
Document Summary
Aquinas: "law" is an ordinance of reason for the common good. John austin: "law" is commands backed by threats. A gunman says "give me your money or else" -- that is what the law is. Hla hart: "law" is the union of primary and secondary rules. Its not just commands, but involves rules on how to change and adjudicate rules. It sets the scope and limit of state authority. Acts as a driver for, and sometimes a source of resistance to social change. Law should be relate to objective, identifiable principles (often called "universals") Valid law is what is produced by a legitimate authority through the use of a legitimate procedure. The social thesis: law is a social phenomenon, and conditions of legal validity consist entirely in social facts. Positivism says yes, but it was morally corrupt law. Law is just a mechanism of social control. Anti-theory of law i. e. property or contract law.
