Herbert Lionel Adolphus Hart The Relationship Between...

This essay aims to examine the connection or otherwise between law and morality from the perspective of Herbert Lionel Adolphus Hart (HLA Hart) and Lon Fuller. Legal positivism, as propagated by Thomas Hobbes and HLA Hart is the idea that legal systems are composed only of positive law, which does not necessarily mean that law is not connected to morality at all. Hart proposed the concept of legal positivism by disassociating positive law from the imperative theory of law, moral philosophies, and analytical aspects of legal language. Hart characterized his thesis by suggesting that legal positivism involves the split between law and morals. Positivists suggest that the assessment of the content of law does not depend on moral†¦show more content†¦This perspective provides a distinction of law from morality. Moral values create duty and obligation to keep all citizens and the authorities in check. Hart argues that subjects under a coercive law are obliged to comply with the rules, but they are not bound or obligated by duty to obey such rules. Therefore, application of coercive rules does not create any form of obligation, whether legal or moral. Typically, citizens may not be cognisant of the legal structures and the criteria of their validity. The laws are considered valid as long as they are approved by majority of the officials on the basis of recognition and validity criteria. The role of citizens is solely to obey the primary rules that have been recognized as being legally valid. Hart believes that a legal system exists when citizens obey the valid rules of behaviour, and the rules of recognition and criteria of legal validity have been generally accepted by the officials. In this regard, the law is different from morality on the basis of recognition and validity. The fact that a rule of law is prudent, wise, efficient and just does not necessarily mean that it is actually law; and the fact that they are unwise, imprudent, inefficient and unjus t do not mean that they are insufficient reasons for creating a law. Positivism suggests that law has been socially constructed through ordering, decision, practice and tolerance. The laws may be unjust, andShow MoreRelatedThomas Aquinas, Natural Law And Legal Positivism710 Words   |  3 PagesThere are different types of relationships between Morals and Laws. It is important to distinguish these differences by the assertion and denial of them. In the book The Concept of Law there are two types of relations, Natural law and Legal Positivism. Natural Law is defined as â€Å"certain principles of human conduct, awaiting discovery by human reason, which man-made laws must conform to if they are to be valid (Hart 2012 p.185-186).† Legal Positivism is defined as â€Å"the simple contention that it isRead MoreAnalytical Philosophy : The Law Of The Land As It s Exists Today1049 Words   |  5 Pagesstructure of law, the meanings and uses of its concepts, and the formal terms and the modes of its operation. It draws on the resources of modern analytical philosophy to try to understand the nature of law. It is not concerned with the past stages of its evolution or its goodness or badness. The purpose is to analyse and discuss the law of the land as it’s exists today. It is a legal theory that draws on the resources of modern analytical philosophy to try to understand the nature of law. Although