NATURAL LAW, POSITIVE LAW, AND OTHER PERSPECTIVES PHILOSOPHIES OF LAW NATURAL LAW, POSITIVE LAW, AND OTHER PERSPECTIVES

FURTHER SUBDIVISIONS OF NATURAL LAW POPULAR MORALITY: judges should determine what the majority of the community feel is moral as a basis for their judgments. This could be done through the use of public opinion polls when deciding how the law should be applied. CRITICAL MORALITY: judges determine what law is by determining what would be fair given the most defensible view of moral standards operating within the community. This view differs from popular morality since the majority of the public may be ill informed or biased.

FURTHER SUBDIVISIONS OF POSITIVE LAW THE LETTER OF THE LAW: requires that judges stick to the literal meaning of the words. THE SPIRIT OF THE LAW: allows judges to decide what the rules mean by referring to the goals and purposes of the applied rules. SO WHAT ABOUT….?: The American reference to the right to bear arms.

FURTHER SUBDIVISIONS OF LEGAL REALISM SOCIOLOGICAL JURISPRUDENCE – argues that legal decisions ought to be decided in light of realistic expectations about the effects of law on society. If law is to be an effective social force, judicial decisions ought not to be a simple application of fixed laws without concern for the effects of such an application in the particular situation involved. LEGAL REALISTS – reverses the perspective by looking at the effects of social factors in shaping legal decisions and legal institutions. The law is what the judge decides to enforce. While the legal rules provide some indication of the decision a judge will reach, judicial decisions are also the product of political compromises, individual personalities and abilities, and judges’ perceptions of their legal and moral obligations.