Article
Legal Positivism as an Idea About Morality
University of Toronto Law Journal
Publication Date
4-1-2011
Abstract
I ask what a proper critical target for 'legal positivism' might be. I argue that utilitarian moral theory, and more generally fully directive moral theories, are unacknowledged motivations for legal positivism. Contemporary debate about 'the nature of law' is, historically speaking, much more of a footnote to utilitarianism than has been recognized.
Publisher
University of Toronto Faculty of Law
DOI
Positivism, nature of law, utilitarianism, natural law, Hart, Austin, Kant, Weinrib
Keywords
- Positivism,
- nature of law,
- utilitarianism,
- natural law,
- Hart,
- Austin,
- Kant,
- Weinrib
Disciplines
- Jurisprudence,
- Law and
- Torts
Citation Information
Martin J. Stone. "Legal Positivism as an Idea About Morality" University of Toronto Law Journal Vol. 61 (2011) p. 313 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/martin-stone/18/
Understanding the Law on Its Own Terms: Essays on the Occasion of Ernest Weinrib's Killiam Prize