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The law does not exist to guide us
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Pike, Joshua (2023) The law does not exist to guide us. Jurisprudence, 14 (1). pp. 95-112. doi:10.1080/20403313.2022.2141509 ISSN 2040-3313.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20403313.2022.2141509
Abstract
It has become a popular view in jurisprudence that the law exists to guide us. I argue in this article that it is plausible to think that the law does not necessarily exist to guide us. I do this while accepting that the law is necessarily normative. The upshot of the argument is significant. Viewing an attempt to provide guidance as a necessary feature of the law gives rise to a distinctive mode of operating that some think has inherently valuable qualities. We get to say, for example, that the rule of law provides some necessary constraints on how laws should be designed. These valuable aims and constraints become external aims and constraints once guidance is jettisoned from the concept of law. It would not, for example, be true just in virtue of the very nature of law that it should not be secret or oppress people into conformity.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BC Logic B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics K Law [Moys] > KA Jurisprudence K Law [Moys] > KL Common Law, General K Law [Moys] > KM Common Law, Public Law |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Law | ||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Jurisprudence , Law -- Philosophy, Practice of law , Procedure (Law) , Rule of law, Normativity (Ethics), Practical reason | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Jurisprudence | ||||||||
Publisher: | Taylor and Francis Group | ||||||||
ISSN: | 2040-3313 | ||||||||
Official Date: | 2023 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 14 | ||||||||
Number: | 1 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 95-112 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1080/20403313.2022.2141509 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 21 September 2023 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 21 September 2023 |
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