Philosophy Stack Exchange
Philosophy Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [philosophy-of-law]

Philosophy of law (or legal philosophy) is concerned with providing a general philosophical analysis of law and legal institutions. (ref. IEP

As per The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy this tag is for questions dealing with the philosphy of the the law and legal system.

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Why would all law be positive law?

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., in his 1897 The Path of Law, argues that law does not relate to objective reality but is created by whatever judges decide. Thus, according to him, all law is positive law, a manmade convention. This is diametrically…
Geremia
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Why do the moral constraints upon law exculpate, not inculpate?

Why "blame without legal judgment", but "no judgment without blame"? What do these even mean? I never studied philosophy. Can someone kindly explain like I'm 5 the emboldened sentences below? Please see subject line. AP Simester, ‘Can…
user8572
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How are positive duties morally less powerful than negative ones?

I don't ken the emboldening. The positive duty for pro-abortionists is to make abortion accessible, free, legal, and a universal human right. This positive duty is obviously MORE (not "less") powerful than the negative duty — which is not to hinder…
user8572
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How to judge somebody when the Poe's Law apply?

Some posts or videos may be considered racist or offensive, or they may just be parodying racist people (https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Poe%27s_Law) What are the philosophical thoughts that proposes a framework to judge (legally, morally or…
ribamar
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Philosophical terms for the different kinds of acceptance of a rule

I'm trying to write a philosophy essay and I'm trying to distinguish between three different ways in which agents may accept or believe in a rule: That a rational agent seeking the best outcome (for everyone affected) would agree to follow the…
Casebash
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Do penalties keep people from committing crimes?

I'm very skeptical about the statement that penalties prevent people from committing crimes. There are obviously no facts to back this up (or are there?). I often hear though that it's better not to do things that are against the law (the institute)…
Deschele Schilder
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How can I "fail to attend to reasons that are yours to conform to, even though I cannot be accused of failing to conform to them myself"?

Herring, Criminal Law: Text, Cases, and Materials (8 edn, 2018). p. 851. The distinction between principals and accomplices, as we discovered, is embedded in the structure of rational agency. As rational beings we cannot live without it. It…
user8572
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How does denying existence of moral reasons to achieve results, also deny the existence of (normal) moral reasons to try to achieve them?

How does [1] imply [2]? Consider antinatalists. They have moral reasons TO TRY accomplish antinatalism ("AN"). But they don't have moral reasons to accomplish AN, because they probably won't accomplish AN, at least in the next 50 years. AN requires…
user8572
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Legal vs moral laws

Should one be required to follow an immoral law? That is the law is blatantly discriminating such as Hitler did to Jews in Germany. Should one be imprisoned just because they violated the law and the law is unjustifiable at the same time.
Logikal
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Is a well-considered democratic decision good even though bad people have voted for this good decision?

Imagine the following situation: A new law is voted in a parliament. The overwhelming majority of the population consider this new law to be very good. However, in the first voting-round there is initially no majority for this new law in the…
TobKel
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Which branches of philosophy matter most to law?

This question presumes that after reading short introductions, the best next step is to read introductory textbooks from each branch of philosophy. Feel free to challenge this presumption. Then the problem is to select which branches. So which…
user8572
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Is it possible to punish acts without punishing the actor?

A common argument to say that one should take downvotes as judge of content quality, not character, but it seems apparent to me that to judge quality is to judge character. I explain my argument below. Suppose some person does some unacceptable act,…
tryst with freedom
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do courts or judges ever have an ethical responsibility to interpret a law a certain way?

assuming courts have the power to interpret a law as they see fit (subject to removal of judges through various procedures) do they have an ethical responsibility to interpret a law a certain way even if it deviates from the law's basic…
OldAccount2005
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Are crimes worse just because they are crimes (with an example from sexual assault)

I apologise if this needs a TRIGGER WARNING, I in no way whatsoever wish to trivialise anyone's experiences or moral guilt. Clearly, not every law is moral and not every moral obligation is legally enshrined. Is that all there is to it?…
user62133