MGT315 Midterm Assignment
Deadline: Sunday March 13th 12 noon
Worth: 30%
Length: Minimum 1500 words
Bibliography: 4 references minimum
QUESTION
Using one of the following case studies
(i) Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster
(ii) The actions of Chuck Blazer within FIFA corruption
(iii) The Ebay 2020 CyberStalking scandal
In resolving the ethical dilemma(s) in your chosen case study, apply:
a. Utilitarianism / Best Outcome model
or
b. The Rights Model (applicable why/why not)
c. Your own opinion
Use the file Phantom Expenses under “Business Ethics” notes to help guide your answer.
Use Slide numbers 21, 22, 26 and 27 under “Business Ethics” to help you.
Guidelines:
Introduction: 6 or 7 lines.
-Tell me what this assignment is about…. “This assignment will examine X case study”.
-Why? “The assignment will examine x case study from the utilitarian or rights model perspective as it killed x no of people etc../ outcomes negatively affected people etc../ corruption is wrong…etc”
-Tell me what “ethics” is, what are the different types of ethics.…. Use references.
Main body of assignment (2-4 paragraphs)
– Tell me the facts- what happened.
– Who are the stakeholders? (Who are the people involved)
– What is the outcome for the stakeholders (for example, if no pollution/no corruption/no stalking)
– What is the outcome for the stakeholders (for example, when there was pollution/ when there was corruption/ when there was stalking)
– What is the best outcome for the greatest number of people (Utilitarian model) or
– What is the outcome that maximizes the dignity of the stakeholders and minimizes the violation of their rights (Rights model)
Conclusion: What do you think is the best solution? Why are ethics so important?
Please note these are just guidelines, you do not have to follow them if you do not want to.
Grading Rubric
Any questions please contact me.
Thanks,
Dr. Marie
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Essay/Exam Answer Evaluation Form
Student Name: _________________ ______________________________
Student No: __________________ Question/Topic: ______________
5 4 3 2 1
(high) (low)
1. Task Does not respond to
Addressed title title sufficiently
2. Critical Thinking Uses generalisations
Original thinking, makes & reproduces
links with other topics summarises texts
3. Analysis Shallow, descriptive
Deep &insightful, takes things at face
recognises complexity value
4. Argument & Rambling, incoherent
Structure vague, not developed
Clearly stated, coherent effectively, no clear
logically developed, well structure
organised
5. Support Questionable or
Appropriate & accurate irrelevant evidence
evidence for argument for argument
6. Ethics
Concepts Little evidence of
Clear understanding understanding
& Relevant usage
7. Reading No evidence of
Evidence of reading reading or
knowledge of course knowledge of course
material material
8. Sources & Unacknowledged
Referencing sources, poor
Adequate acknowledgement bibliographical list
of sources, ideas, competent
bibliography
9. Presentation & Untidy difficult to
Style read, awkward
Legible, well set out phrasing, repetitive
Fluent, clear, precise
Grade
Introduction Legal Environment of Business 2021.pptx
Legal Environment of Business
Semester 2, January 2021– May 2021
Dr. Paula Kenny, BA, MSocSc, PhD, DLSP
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Course Description
This course presents a study of the interrelationships among business, government, and society as reflected in the legal systems in which they operate. In addition to examining specific laws and legal issues, such as business transactions, employer-employee relations, government regulation and consumer law, students become familiar with the way in which laws develop and change. Special emphasis is on the social and ethical issues that arise in business law.
2
Course Learning Outcomes
Explain the role of law and ethics in business and society and the legal system’s role in regulating business.
Understand the ways in which law both facilitates and restricts business activities.
Apply legal analysis principles to resolve business problems.
Analyse contemporary legal issues to promote an interest in the legal environment and a framework for maintaining that interest beyond the classroom to enhance lifelong learning.
Communicate effectively about legal and ethical issues using appropriate oral and written conventions.
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Course Workload
4
The Concept of Law
“It is not the responsibility of the government or the legal system to protect a citizen from himself” Casey Purcell
The law is not an abstract concept that only exists within the confines of the courts.
It is intrinsically linked to everything we do or could do!, from purchasing an item in a shop to committing murder.
We do not always encounter the law while going about our everyday lives, but it is always present in the background, generally only surfacing when it is broken.
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Definitions of Law
Law is governmental social control . . . the normative life of a state and its citizens. (Black 1972: 1086)
The prophecies of what the courts will do in fact and nothing more pretentious, are what I mean by law. (Holmes 1897: 457)
Norms, mores, and folkways influence the creation of laws
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Main Focus of Definitions
Public law and private rules.
Written law and law in action
Written law and coercion.
Morality and law.
Law and custom.
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Functions of Law
Social control
Dog ordinance
Dispute resolution
MLK national holiday
Social change
Brown v. Board of Education
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Dysfunctions of Law
Harassment
Bias
Repression
Rigidity
Precedent
Unequal access to justice
Conservatism
Political activism
Impede social change
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Harassment
Legal actions may be brought to harass individuals or to gain revenge rather than redress a legal wrong.
How might restraining orders be used for harassment?
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Bias
The law may reflect biases and prejudices or reflect the interest of powerful economic interests.
White collar crime prosecution rates and punishment duration
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Repression
The law may be used by totalitarian regimes as an instrument of repression.
Laws in Soviet Countries
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Rigidity
Rigidity: The law is based on a clear set of rules.
Battered women defense
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Precedent
The law, because of the reliance on precedent, may be slow to change. Judges also are concerned about maintaining respect for the law and hesitate to introduce change that society is not ready to accept.
1896, in Plessy v. Ferguson
1954 Brown v. Board of Education
What is precedent? When a court is faced with an issue or case in a common law system, the court will rely on past case law (previous decisions of the court) in relation to the issues before it. If the issue has been previously decided by an earlier case, the court will be bound by the previous decision, and will follow and apply it to the current case before it. This is what is known as the doctrine of precedent, which is the central component of the common law system.
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Unequal Access to Justice
Money and resources influence trial outcome
Bail affordability
Public versus private defense
Citizenship status and availability of counsel
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Conservatism
In times of war and crisis courts reluctant to second guess political decisions.
Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 [1944].
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Political Activism
Elections influencing policy
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Impede Social Change
The law may limit the ability of individuals to use the law to vindicate their rights and liberties.
1996 Congress passed the Prison Litigation Reform Act
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The Study of Law
Black letter law
Public law (criminal law, constitutional law, and administrative law)
Private law (contract, torts, property)
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The Study of Jurisprudence
jurisprudentia (Latin):the study, knowledge, or science of law
The Queen v. Dudley and Stephens (14 Q.B. 273 [1884])
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The Study of Law & Society
Studies the external influences on law development: politics, science, psychology, anthropology etc.
Executive Order 9066
Civil Liberties Act of 1988
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Perspectives on Law & Society
Consensus perspective: society viewed as sharing common values and as relatively stable, and the law is an instrument of resolving occasional disputes
Conflict perspective: society is viewed as composed of competing groups, and the law is an instrument of coercion
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Families of Law
There are 4 families of law:
Common law
Civil law
Socialist law
Islamic law
*International law, while not one of the four families of law is increasingly important
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Categories of Law
Criminal
-V-
Civil
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Civil Law
Relates to Individual’s relationships with others
Employment, Contracts,
Consumer Disputes
Adopting a Child, Divorcing, Buying a House
Aims to protect the interests and rights of private citizens, adjudicating upon a dispute in relation to property rights
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Criminal Law
Relates to public wrongdoing
The state brings criminals to court on behalf of the citizens of the country
Murder, Robbery, Careless Driving
Assault, Public Order
Punishments
Fines, Imprisonment, Community Service
Judicial Discretion
Imposes punishment on those who commit offences contrary to public order/morals. If somebody is assaulted, criminal law is the mode by which the supposed wrongdoer is tried & punished, if appropriate.
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Early English Courts
Also called “king’s courts” where judges were appointed by the king.
Remedies limited to those provided at law, i.e., land, chattel, money.
Judges resolved disputes by application of rules of law to the facts of the case before the court.
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Courts of Equity
Also called courts of chancery.
Equitable relief was sometimes available in instances where a strict application of the law to the facts of the case compelled a result that was legal but unjust.
Courts of Equity operate today in, e.g., Delaware and Virginia.
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Remedies
Today federal and state courts of general jurisdiction have consolidated remedies at law and remedies at equity.
Generally, the same court can fashion a remedy that includes both damages and equitable or injunctive relief.
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Doctrine of Stare Decisis
Stare decisis is a Latin phrase meaning “to stand on decided cases.”
Makes the law stable and predictable.
Increases judicial efficiency by relieving courts of having to reinvent legal principles for each case brought before them.
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Stare Decisis and Precedent
Stare decisis is “judge made law” based on precedent.
Precedents are judicial decisions that give rise to legal principles that can be applied in future cases based upon similar facts.
Precedents and other forms of positive law, such as statutes, constitutions, and regulations, are referred to as binding authority and must be followed.
34
Cases of “First Impression”
In cases of “first impression” where there is no precedent, the court may refer to positive law, public policy, and widely held social values in order to craft the best new precedent.
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Stare Decisis and Legal Reasoning
Method used by judges to reach a decision.
Many courts and attorneys frame decisions and briefs using the IRAC format: Issue, Rule, Application (Analysis), and Conclusion.
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Types of Legal Reasoning
Deductive Reasoning: Makes use of syllogism, a type of logical relationship involving a major premise and a minor premise.
Linear Reasoning: Proceeds from point to point, with the final point being the conclusion.
Reasoning by Analogy: Analysis that compares facts of present case with facts of similar previously-decided cases.
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Classifications of Law
Procedural
-V-
Substantive
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Classifications of Law
Substantive law embraces the entire body of law that confers rights and interests on private persons or alternatively, imposes obligations and liabilities on persons within the state.
Procedural law on the other hand, refers to the body of rules concerned with the implementation of substantive law and consists of the law of procedure and evidence.
In the course of arguing a substantive point of law, procedural law will always have to be followed. While cases can often be decided on a procedural point, the main crux of the a case will rest on the substantive law.
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Example of the Impact of Procedural Law on Substantive Law
John takes a case against Mary for crashing her car into his front driveway. However, Joe’s lawyer fails to file the necessary proceedings within the time limited by statute. Joe’s action against Mary will be grounded in the substantive law i.e the tort of negligence (will be examined in greater detail in future lectures). However, his case will not succeed as his lawyer failed to abide by the procedural law in the area.
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Substantive Law
Can be further divided into two separate sub categories
Public Law embraces constitutional law, administrative law and criminal law.
Administrative law is the body of law that governs the administration of the State and the operation of public authorities. The range of bodies which are subject to administrative law include the Executive, Ministers of State, semi State bodies, the Police, the Defence Forces, Prison Governors, and statutory bodies created under legislation.
Private Law is concerned with the relationship between private individuals but can also concern the actions of a state body, if that body is acting in a private capacity.
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Private Law: Subcategories
Private law is made up of a number of different sub-categories of law to cover all the facets of human relationships. The core categories are as follows;
Contract Law: determination of rights created by an agreement, oral or written, entered into between two parties.
Tort Law: concerns private wrongs which usually result in an injury to another i.e. assault, negligence. Tort is normally concerned with compensation for injury, but other remedies are available
Property Law: governs the interests held in and over property, both real and personal.
Private law can be further divided into distinctive bodies of law which contain relevant elements of contract law, the law of torts and property law. These include family law, company law, labour law, commercial law, intellectual property law, sport and the law and civil liberties. All of the above categories of law operate within the one system: The Common Law System
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Cyberlaw
Cyberlaw is an emerging body of law that applies to transactions on the internet.
Generally, it consists of traditional legal principles as applied to the web.
Electronic commerce and contracting is becoming a more accepted way of doing business in the global economy.
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How to Read & Understand Case Law
Legal cases are identified by a “legal citation” (or a “cite”) as the example below:
Federal Express Corp. v. Federal Espresso, Inc., 201 F.3d 168 (2nd Cir. 2000).
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Title: First Party is Plaintiff, second party is Defendant. The parties are either italicized or underlined.
How to Read & Understand Case Law
Legal cases are identified by a “legal citation” (or a “cite”) as the example below:
Federal Express Corp. v. Federal Espresso, Inc., 201 F.3d 168 (2nd Cir. 2000).
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Case is found in volume 201 of the 3rd Federal Supplement, page 168.
How to Read & Understand Case Law
Legal cases are identified by a “legal citation” (or a “cite”) as the example below:
Federal Express Corp. v. Federal Espresso, Inc., 201 F.3d 168 (2nd Cir. 2000).
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Case was decided by the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals in 2000.
Business People & the Law
Laws regulate all areas of business.
Factors business owners must consider:
Is contract enforceable?
Contract for goods vs. services?
What happens if someone breaches the contract?
Dispute Resolution?
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Philosophy of Law
Justice: What’s The Right Thing To Do? Episode 01
“THE MORAL SIDE OF MURDER”
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1. Introduction to MGT315 Dr.Marie.pptx
MGT315 Legal Environments of Business Semester 2, January 2021– May 2021 Lecturer: Dr. Marie Ryan BA, Hdip, MEconSc, PGCTL, PhD
Course Description
This course presents a study of the interrelationships among business, government, and society as reflected in the legal systems in which they operate. In addition to examining specific laws and legal issues, such as business transactions, employer-employee relations, government regulation and consumer law, students become familiar with the way in which laws develop and change. Special emphasis is on the social and ethical issues that arise in business law.
2
MGT315 Course Learning Outcomes
Explain the role of law and ethics in business and society and the legal system’s role in regulating business.
Understand the ways in which law both facilitates and restricts business activities.
Apply legal analysis principles to resolve business problems.
Analyse contemporary legal issues to promote an interest in the legal environment and a framework for maintaining that interest beyond the classroom to enhance lifelong learning.
Communicate effectively about legal and ethical issues using appropriate oral and written conventions.
3
Course Workload
4
Lecture 1 Learning Outcomes
By the end of this lecture you should be able to:
1. Define and List the Purpose of Law
2. List and briefly explain the different Types of Law
3. List the three basic Legal Structures
4. Distinguish between Common law and Civil Law
5. Get to know your Religious Law – Sharia Law
Types of law
Constitutional law
Civil law
Criminal law (felonies, misdemeanours)
Administrative law
Next we’ll look at the 3 basic structures for legal systems
Three basic structures for legal systems
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Problems
Common law – Court of law
Civil Law
Lecture 1 Learning Outcomes
You should now be able to:
1. Define and List the Purpose of Law
2. List and briefly explain the different Types of Law
3. List the three basic Legal Structures
4. Distinguish between Common law and Civil Law
5. Get to know your Religious Law – Sharia Law
You tube links
Please look at the links on LMS for further explanations
Introduction 2 Natural Law Legal Ethics.ppt
Natural Law
Natural Law Theory
- Natural law theory asserts that enacted law should correspond to the laws that are eminent in nature.
- The view of the Natural law theory can be summarised by the maxim lex iniusta non est lex which means an ‘unjust law is not a true law’.
- As per natural law theory, the foundations of law are accessible through human reason and it is from these laws of nature that the man made laws gain force.
- Original aspects of the natural law approach can be found in Plato, Aristotle and Cicero. It was St. Thomas Aquinas who gave a systematic form to it.
- The central idea is that there exist objective moral principles which depend on the essential nature of the universe and which can be discovered by natural reason, and that ordinary human law is only truly law in so far as it conforms to these principles.
- These principles of justice and morality constitute the natural law, which is valid of necessity, because the rules for human conduct are logically connected with truths concerning human nature.
Natural Law Overview
Natural Law – Broad often misapplied term which is tossed around various schools of philosophy, science, history, theology and law.
Assumes that law, rights and ethics are based on universal moral principals inherent in nature discoverable through human reason.
Immanuel Kant reminded us, ‘What is Law?’ may be said to be about as embarrassing to the jurist as the know question What is Truth? Is to the logician.
Law in its generic sense, is the body of rules of action which must be obeyed and followed by citizens subject to sanctions of legal consequences is a law.
Jurisprudence is the philosophy of law and how law developed.
Natural law is a moral theory of jurisprudence, which maintains that law should be based on morality and ethics.
Natural Law Overview contd
- Natural law holds that the Law is based on what is correct.
- Natural law was discovered by humans through the use of reason and choosing between good and evil.
- Therefore, Natural law finds its power in discovering certain universal standards in morality and ethics.
- Natural Law and Life
- Moral law is applicable to all of us, including murder, theft, lying and cheating. In the case of homicide (the unjustified killing of another human being) We all agree that its wrong, we just disagree on the definitions such as ‘justification’ and ‘human being’.
Natural Justice
Natural Justice or procedural fairness is a legal philosophy used in many jurisdictions including the Republic of Ireland in determining just or fair processes in legal proceedings.
Closely linked to principle of natural law jus naturale that has been applied as a philosophical and practical principle in the law in several common law jurisdictions.
Natural Justice contd
Natural Justice is based on following legal principles;
- “Man is basically good”
“A person of good intent should not be harmed”
“One should treat others as one would like to be treated”
Natural Justice contd
- Natural justice includes the notion of procedural fairness
- Incorporating the following;
Right to advance warning of proceedings
Person accused of crime should be given adequate notice about proceedings
Person should declare any personal interest prior to decision making
Person who makes a decision should be unbiased and act in good faith. He or she should not be one of the parties in the case or have an interest in the outcome
- “Nemo iudex causa sua”
“No man is permitted to be the judge in his own cause”
Natural Justice contd
Proceedings should be conducted so they are fair to all parties
“Audi Alteram Partem” “Let the other side be heard”
Each party to a proceeding is entitled to ask questions and contradict the evidence of the opposing party
A decision maker should take into account relevant considerations and extenuating circumstances and ignore irrelevant considerations
Justice should be seen to be done. If the community is satisfied that justice has been done they will continue to place their faith in the courts.
Natural justice is binding upon both public and private entities such as trade unions etc.
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
Aristotle
EVOLUTION OF LAW
The Code of Hammurabi
First written legal code
Developed in Babylonia
About 2000 BC
Heraclitus
About 600 BC
All human law came from some divine inspiration
SOCRATES
- About 400 BC
- Recognized the tension between law which is “just” and law which is merely what government says it is
Plato’s Minos
- SOCRATES “Law is the correct judgment of the state.”
- States legislate a concept of justice and particular conceptions of justice.
- Only decrees based upon knowledge of objective justice and injustice can count as true laws
Aristotle
The Father of “Natural Law”
“At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.”
NATURAL LAW
Natural law comprises the essential rules without which no human society could be considered just: rules good for all times and places.
Natural law has, at different times, been used to support almost any ideology; but the most important and lasting theories of natural law have undoubtedly been inspired by the two ideas,
of a universal order governing all men, and of the inalienable rights of the individual. When used in the service of either of these ideas, natural law has formed an organic and essential part in a hierarchy of legal values.
NATURAL LAW
Assumes there is a higher or universal law that applies to all people everywhere
Assumes that law, rights and ethics are based on universal moral principals inherent in nature discoverable through the human reason
Nicomachean Ethics
“The law is reason, free from passion.”
Law = when reason is used to analyze human nature and deduce binding rules of moral behavior.
Certain rights or values are inherent in or universally recognizable because they are created by nature.
“The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law.”
Aristotle
CICERO
Roman Statesman
About 100 BC
Famous Definition
of
Natural Law
*
CICERO’S “Natural Law”
True law is right reason in agreement with Nature; it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrongdoing by its prohibitions….There will not be different laws at Rome and at Athens, or different laws now and in the future, but one eternal and unchangeable law will be valid for all nations and for all times…”
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
About 1265
“Law; an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by him who has care of the community.”
Aquinas on Natural Law
- “It is evident that all things partake somewhat of the eternal law, in so far as, namely, from its being imprinted on them…Wherefore it (human nature) has a share of the Eternal Reason, whereby it has a natural inclination to its proper act and end: and this participation of the eternal law in the rational creature is called the natural law”.
- According to Thomas Acquinas, positive law has its purpose, which is the common good of the community.
- Any positive law which conflicts or is inconsistent with the natural law is not really law at all. Hence, according to him, there is neither legal nor moral obligation to obey the same. Augustin and Martin Luther King are also the supporters of this view.
- Natural Law — Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr, Letter from the Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963. “[T]here are two types of laws: just and unjust laws. . . . A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law . . . . An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. . . . a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law.”
How Natural Law Functions – Aquinas
Summa Theologica
Law is the rational creature’s participation in the Eternal law. Yet, since human reason could not fully comprehend the Eternal law (God), it needed to be supplemented by revealed Divine law (Church).
All human laws were to be judged by their conformity to the natural law.
An unjust law is not a law, in the full sense of the word. It retains merely the ‘appearance’ of law insofar as it is duly constituted and enforced in the same way a just law is, but is itself a ‘perversion of law’.
Hobbes And Locke
1700’s
British philosophers
Proposed a theory of law building on natural law principles
Hobbes and Locke
Government and the people have a “social compact (contract)” where people possess rights and government protects the rights
Declaration of Independence
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
US CONSTITUTION
US CONSTITUTION
The US Constitution does not grant rights, but rather gives government the power to protect those rights that the “Founding Fathers” believed were fundamental and inalienable for all people
“Live your life as though your every act were to become a universal law.”
Immanuel Kant
LEGAL POSITIVISM
- No inherent or necessary connection between law and ethics or morality
- Law is conceptually separate from moral and ethical values,
- Law is posited by lawmakers, who are humans
- Law is ultimately a matter of human custom or convention.
LEGAL POSITIVISM
- Whether a society has a legal system depends on the presence of certain structures of governance, not on the extent to which it satisfies ideals of justice, democracy, or the rule of law.
- What laws are in force in that system depends on what social standards its officials recognize as authoritative; for example, legislative enactments, judicial decisions, or social customs.
LEGAL POSITIVISM
The fact that a policy would be just, wise, efficient, or prudent is never sufficient reason for thinking that it is actually the law, and the fact that it is unjust, unwise, inefficient or imprudent is never sufficient reason for doubting it.
LEGAL POSITIVISM
- Law is a matter of what has been posited (ordered, decided)
- Positivism is the view that law is a social construction.
JEREMY BENTHAM
1750’s
“Nature has placed mankind under the
governance of two sovereign masters,
pain and pleasure.
It is for them alone to point out what we
ought to do, as well as to determine what
we shall do.”
UTILITARIANISM
UTILITARIANISM
the right act or policy was that which would cause “the greatest good for the greatest number of people“
also known as the principle of utility
LEGAL POSITIVISM
- The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (1832)
- Influenced by Bentham
Austin’s theory of law
- the law is command issued by the uncommanded commander—the sovereign;
- such commands are backed by threats of sanctions; and
Law is created by position
LAW
JUSTICE
MORALITY
JUSTICE
MORALITY
LAW
LAW
MORALITY
JUSTICE
MORALITY
JUSTICE
LAW
LAW
JUSTICE
MORALITY
LAW
JUSTICE
MORALITY