TOWARD CLASSICAL LEGAL POSITIVISM

When H.L.A. Hart defended legal positivism in his famous Holmes Lecture, he sought to do so "as part of the history of an idea." In his hands this idea grew out of two philosophical traditions. One of them was utilitarianism, the belief that the moral assessment of states of affairs must b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inVirginia law review Vol. 101; no. 4; pp. 987 - 1022
Main Author Priel, Dan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Charlottesville VIRGINIA LAW REVIEW ASSOCIATION 01.06.2015
The Virginia Law Review Association
Subjects
Attorneys
Bentham, Jeremy, 1748-1832
Human nature
JURISPRUDENCE
Language
Lawyer client communication
Legal positivism
LEGAL PROFESSION
Legal research
LEGISLATION
Linguistics
Metaphysics
Moral principles
Morality
Natural law
PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy of law
Positivism
State laws
United States > US
Virginia
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Summary:When H.L.A. Hart defended legal positivism in his famous Holmes Lecture, he sought to do so "as part of the history of an idea." In his hands this idea grew out of two philosophical traditions. One of them was utilitarianism, the belief that the moral assessment of states of affairs must be based on their contribution to happiness, while the other was "the important truth that a purely analytical study of legal concepts, a study of the meaning of the distinctive vocabulary of the law, was as vital to our understanding of the nature of law as historical or sociological studies." Together these two ideas led to a "simple but vital distinction" between "law as it is [and] law as it ought to be."
Bibliography:2019-10-18T20:18:14+11:00
VIRGINIA LAW REVIEW, Vol. 101, No. 4, Jun 2015: 987-1022
Informit, Melbourne (Vic)
VIRGINIA LAW REVIEW, Vol. 101, No. 4, Jun 2015, 987-1022
ISSN:0042-6601
1942-9967