REGNRSG 105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Rationality, Ratio Decidendi, Legal Certainty
Document Summary
Customary law: custom as a source of law. Rationalist law: reason as a source of law. Created law: legislation, cases and treaties as sources of law. Sources of validity: legal rules can be created by persons who, or institutions that, have the power to do so. Social rules: only exist if they are effective which requires that every member of the group in which the rule exists complies with the rule and considers violations as a reason for criticism. Institutional rules: only exist if their existence follows from the application of some other rule. This other rule may hold that all the rules created by the parliament are valid rules. Most rules are institutional and effectiveness is not a condition for their validity. Hierarchy of rules: the highest rule is the constitution which contains rules that guide behaviour and rules that empower institutions/ the legislator to make additional rules.
