Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-19T12:32:42.000Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Legal Positivism, Censorial Jurisprudence, and Legal Reform

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Robin West
Robin West
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
Get access

Summary

The heart of legal positivism, according to Jeremy Bentham and his then-contemporary band of “radicals,” as well as modern positivist legal theorists, was what is now confusedly called the “separability thesis”: the law that is, is not necessarily the same as the law that ought to be. That a law exists, positivists insisted, then as now, does not imply anything one way or the other about its merits or demerits, about whether it is just, or about whether it is a good law: laws are not necessarily good simply by virtue of the fact of their existence; some laws are unjust or unwise but nevertheless law.

Type
Chapter
Information
Normative Jurisprudence
An Introduction
 , pp. 60 - 106
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Raz, Josephmoral thesis,The Authority of LawOxfordOxford University Press 2002 37
Hart, H. L. A.The Concept of LawOxfordOxford University Press 1997
Austin, JohnProvince of Jurisprudence DeterminedCambridgeCambridge University Press 1995
Bentham, JeremyAn Introduction to the Principles of Morals and LegislationOxfordClarendon Press 1996 293
Coleman, Jules L.Negative and Positive Positivism,Journal of Legal Studies 11.1 1982 139Google Scholar
Coleman, Incorporationism, Conventionality and the Practical Difference Theory,Legal Theory 4.4 1998 381Google Scholar
Waluchow, W. J.Inclusive Legal PositivismClarendon Press 1994
Bix, BrianPatrolling the Boundaries: Inclusive Legal Positivism and the Nature of Jurisprudential Debate,Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence 12.1 1999 17Google Scholar
Austin, JohnLectures on Jurisprudence: The Philosophy of Positive LawLondonR&R Clark Publishing 1885 771
Beccaria, CesareOn Crimes and PunishmentNew BrunswickTransaction Publishers 2009
Bentham, A Fragment on GovernmentCambridgeCambridge University Press 1988
Mill, John StuartOn BenthamUtilitarianism and Other EssaysPenguin Classics 1987
Mill, John StuartUtilitarianismChicagoUniversity of Chicago Press 1906
Blackstone, WilliamCommentaries on the Laws of EnglandOxfordClarendon Press1765
Bentham, JeremyComment on the Commentaries: A Criticism of William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of EnglandOxfordClarendon Press 1928
Bentham, JeremyPannomial FragmentsThe Works of Jeremy BenthamEdinburghWilliam Tait 1843 3 229Google Scholar
Bentham, JeremyView of the Rationale of EvidenceThe Works of Jeremy Bentham 6 173
Hart, H. L. A.Essays on Bentham: Jurisprudence and Political TheoryOxfordOxford University Press 1982
Dworkin, RonaldThe Jurisprudence of Richard NixonNew York Review of Books 18.8 1972 27Google Scholar
Dworkin, RonaldOn Not Prosecuting Civil DisobedienceNew York Review of Books 10.11 1968 14Google Scholar
Cover, Robert MJustice Accused: Antislavery and the Judicial ProcessYale University Press 1984
Dworkin, RonaldThe Bork Nomination: An Exchange,New York Review of Books 34.15 1987Google Scholar
Dworkin, RonaldThe Bork Nomination,New York Review of Books 34.13 1987Google Scholar
Dworkin, RonaldReagan's Justice,New York Review of Books 31.17 1984Google Scholar
Mikhail, John ‘Plucking the Mask of Mystery from Its Face’ Georgetown Law Journal 95 2007 733Google Scholar
Fuller, LonThe Morality of LawNew HavenYale University Press 1969
Luban, DavidFairness to Rightness: Jurisdiction, Legality, and the Legitimacy of International Criminal LawThe Philosophy of International LawCambridgeOxford University Press 2010 569
Woetzel, Robert KThe Nuremberg Trials In International LawNew YorkPraeger 1960
Dworkin, RonaldTaking Rights SeriouslyCambridgeHarvard University Press 1977
Fuller, LonAnatomy of the LawLondonPall Mall Press 1968 177
Finnis, JohnNatural Law and Natural RightsOxfordOxford University Press 1980
Beard, Charles AAn Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United StatesNew YorkThe Free Press 1986
Levinson, SanfordHow the United States Constitution Contributes to the Democratic Deficit in AmericaDrake Law Review 55.4 2007 859Google Scholar
Becker, MaryTowards a Progressive Politics and a Progressive ConstitutionFordham Law Review 69.5 2001Google Scholar
Sullivan, KathleenConstitutional AmendmentitisAmerican Prospect 1995
Abel, RichardJudges Write the Darndest Things: Judicial Mystification of Limitations on Tort Liability,Texas Law Review 80 2002 1547Google Scholar
Abel, Questioning the Counter-Majoritarian Thesis: The Case of Torts,DePaul Law Review 49 1999 533Google Scholar
Abel, The Real Tort Crisis: Too Few Claims,Ohio State Law Review 48 1987 443Google Scholar
, RazBetween Authority and Interpretation: On the Theory of Law and Practical ReasonOxfordOxford University Press 2009
Bix, BrianLegal Positivism and Explaining Normativity and AuthorityAPA Newsletter on Philosophy and Law 5 2006Google Scholar
Fiss, OwenObjectivity and InterpretationStanford Law Review 34 1982 739Google Scholar
Cohen, FelixTranscendental Nonsense and the Functional ApproachColumbia Law Review 35 1935 809Google Scholar
Llewellyn, Karl NRemarks on the Theory of Appellate Decision and the Rules of Cannons about How Statutes Are to Be ConstruedVanderbilt Law Review 3 1950 395Google Scholar
Holmes, Oliver WendellThe Common LawBostonLittle, Brown, and Company 1909
, HolmesThe Path of the Lawand Lochner v. United States 198 1905Google Scholar
Weisberg, RichardVichy Law and the Holocaust in FranceHarwood Academic Publisher 1997 355
Weisberg, Daniel Arises: Notes (such as 30 and 31) from the Schlagaground,Georgetown Law Journal 97 2009 857Google Scholar
Dworkin, Taking Rights Seriously 305
Revisited, LawUniversity of Florida Law Review 34 1982 165
Leiter, BrianNaturalizing Jurisprudence: Essays on American Legal Realism and Naturalism in Legal PhilosophyNew YorkOxford University Press 2007
Leiter, The End of the Empire: Dworkin and Jurisprudence in the Twenty-first Century,Rutgers Law Journal 36 2005 165Google Scholar
Hart, H. L. A.Law, Liberty, and MoralityStanfordStanford University Press 1963
Hart, The Concept of Law 90.2 2010
Hershovitz, ScottExploring Law's Empire: The Jurisprudence of Ronald DworkinNew YorkOxford University Press 2006
Leiter, BrianExplaining Theoretical DisagreementUniversity Chicago Law Review 2009 1215Google Scholar
Green, LesliePositivism and the Inseparability of Law and MoralsNew York University Law Review 85 2008 1035Google Scholar
Dworkin, RonaldJustice for HedgehogsCambridgeHarvard University Press 2011
Frankel, Marvin E.Criminal Sentences: Law without OrderNew YorkHill and Wang 1973
Frankel, The Search for Truth: An Umpireal View,University of Pennsylvania Law Review 123.5 1975 1031Google Scholar
Schlag, PierreSpam Jurisprudence, Air Law, and the Rank Anxiety of Nothing Happening (A Report on the State of the Art)Georgetown Law Journal 97 2009 803Google Scholar
West, Robin LJurisprudence as NarrativeNew York University Law Review 60 1985 145Google Scholar
Tushnet, MarkAn Essay on Rights,Texas Law Review 62 1984 1363Google Scholar
Horwitz, Morton J.Rights,Harvard Civil Rights–Civil Liberties Law Review 23 1988 393Google Scholar
Glendon, Mary AnnRights Talk: The Impoverishment of Political DiscourseNew YorkThe Free Press 1991
Sandel, Michael JDemocracy's Discontent: America in Search of a Public PhilosophyCambridgeBelknap Press 1998
West, Robin LUnenumerated DutiesUniversity of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law 9 2006 221Google Scholar
West, Robin LKatrina, the Constitution, and the Legal Question DoctrineChicago-Kent Law Review 81 2006 1127Google Scholar
Siegel, RevaDignity and the Politics of Protection: Abortion Rights under Casey/CarhartYale Law Journal 117 2008 1694Google Scholar
West, RobinFrom Choice to Reproductive Justice: De-Constitutionalizing Abortion RightsYale Law Journal 118 2009Google Scholar
Epstein, Richard A.Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent DomainCambridgeHarvard University Press 1985
Epstein, A Theory of Strict Liability,Journal of Legal Studies 2 1973 151Google Scholar
Posner, Richard A.Federal Courts: Crisis and ReformCambridgeHarvard University Press 1985
Landes, Elisabeth M.The Effect of State Maximum Hours Laws on the Employment of Women in 1920,Journal of Political Economy 88 1980 476Google Scholar
Monaghan, Henry P.Our Perfect Constitution,New York University Law Review 56 1981 353Google Scholar
Sunstein, Cass R.Lochner's Legacy,Columbia Law Review 87 1987 873Google Scholar
Sunstein, Naked Preferences and the Constitution,Columbia Law Review 84 1984 1689Google Scholar
Levinson, SanfordThe Embarrassing Second AmendmentYale Law Journal 99 1989 637Google Scholar
, LevinsonThe Historians? Counterattack: Some Reflections on the Historiography of the Second AmendmentGuns, Crime, and Punishment in AmericaNew YorkNew York University Press 2003
Barnett, Randy EForeword: Guns, Militias, and Oklahoma CityTennessee Law Review 62 1995 443Google Scholar
Copp, DavidPornography and CensorshipAmherstPrometheus Books 1983 15
Ruddick, SarahOn Sexual MoralityMoral Problems: A Collection of Philosophical EssaysNew YorkHarper and Row 1971 85
Berns, WalterPornography vs. Democracy: The Case for Censorship,Public Interest 22 1971 3Google Scholar
MacKinnon, Catharine A.Pornography, Civil Rights, and Speech,Harvard Civil Rights–Civil Liberties Law Review 20 1985 1Google Scholar
Richards, David A. J.Free Speech and Obscenity Law: Toward a Moral Theory of the First Amendment,University of Pennsylvania Law Review 123 1974 45Google Scholar
Richards, Free Speech and Obscenity LawOnly WordsCambridgeHarvard University Press 1996 77
Dworkin, RonaldIs There a Right to Pornography?Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 1 1981 177Google Scholar
West, Robin L.The Feminist-Conservative Anti-Pornography Alliance and the 1986 Attorney General's Commission on Pornography Report,American Bar Foundation Research Journal 12 1987 681Google Scholar
Feldblum, ChaiGay Is Good: The Moral Case for Marriage Equality and More,Yale Journal of Law and Feminisim 17.1 2005 139Google Scholar
Feldblum, Sexual Orientation, Morality, and the Law: Devlin Revisited,University of Pittsburgh Law Review 57.2 1996 237Google Scholar
Thomson, Judith JarvisA Defense of AbortionPhilosophy & Public Affairs 1 1971 47Google Scholar
McDonagh, Eileen LBreaking the Abortion Deadlock: From Choice to ConsentOxfordOxford University Press 1996
Becker, Mary EFamily Law in the Secular State and Restrictions on Same-Sex Marriage: Two Are Better than OneUniversity of Illinois Law Review 1 2001 1Google Scholar
Tushnet, MarkNew Histories of the Private Law of Slavery,Cardozo Law Review 18 1996 301Google Scholar
Rosenberg, Gerald N.The Hollow Hope: Can Courts Bring About Social Change?ChicagoUniversity of Chicago Press 2008
West, RobinUnenumerated DutiesUniversity of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law 9 2006 221Google Scholar
Kramer, Larry DPopular Constitutionalism, Circa 2004California Law Review 92 2004 959Google Scholar
Post, RobertPopular Constitutionalism, Departmentalism, and Judicial SupremacyCalifornia Law Review 92 2004 1027Google Scholar
Siegel, Reva BConstitutional Culture, Social Movement Conflict and Constitutional Change: The Case of the De Facto EraCalifornia Law Review 94 2006 1323Google Scholar
West, Robin LConstitutional Culture or Ordinary Politics: A Reply to Reva SiegelCalifornia Law Review 94 2006 1465Google Scholar
Heinzerling, LisaAckerman, FrankPriceless: On Knowing the Price of Everything and the Value of NothingNew YorkThe New Press 2005
Adler, Matthew D.Incommensurability and Cost-Benefit Analysis,University of Pennsylvania Law Review 146.5 1998 1371Google Scholar
Adler, Fear Assessment: Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Pricing of Fear and Anxiety,Chicago-Kent Law Review 79.3 2004 977Google Scholar
Adler, Posner, Eric A.New Foundations of Cost-Benefit AnalysisCambridgeHarvard University Press 2006
Powers, MadisonFaden, RuthSocial Justice: The Moral Foundation of Public Health and Health PolicyOxfordOxford University Press 2006
Kelman, MarkChoice and Utility,Wisconsin Law Review 1979.3 1979 769Google Scholar
West, RobinThe Other UtilitariansAnalyzing Law: New Essays in Legal TheoryOxfordClarendon Press 1998 197
Robbins, LionelInterpersonal Comparisons of Utility: A CommentThe Economic Journal 48.192 1938 635Google Scholar
Adler, MatthewOn (Moral) Philosophy and American Legal ScholarshipOn Philosophy in American LawCambridgeCambridge University Press 2009 114
Rawls, JohnA Theory of JusticeCambridge, MABelknap Press 1971
Nozick, RobertAnarchy, State, and UtopiaNew YorkBasic Books 1974
Smart, J. J. CUtilitarianism: For and AgainstCambridgeCambridge University Press 1973

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×