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By A.A. Alonto
AUF JD 1- Legal Philosophy
Legal
Positivism defined
Distinction
Classical
The Law
as it is and as it ought to be
Defined:
an approach to Legal Theory which is concerned with posited law
that is, law which has been laid down, or posited by institutions like
parliament and the courts.
Theory of knowledge that can be acquired only through direct
observation and experimentation and not through metaphysics or
theology
Concerns whether laws could be shown to exist within a definable
legal framework
developed largely as a reaction against Classical Natural Law Theory
Natural Law
Positive Law
Aquinas
Road Rules:
Although,
Bentham
as
law, Legal
Positivists think it is necessary to keep the
moral value of the content of the law separate
from the structure of law.
David
Hume (1711-1776)
Proposition on morality:
You ought not to kill another person
While
empiricism
cannot provide us with
any certain knowledge
of morality, it can tell us
something about the
existence of positive
law.
Positive law is something which can be ascertained and
can be made the subject of analytical observation and
enquiry.
Jeremy Bentham
John
Austin
Rudolf Von Jehring
Hans Kelsen
Lon Fuller
H.L.A. Hart