LAWS 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Hans Kelsen, Legal Positivism, Legal Doctrine
Document Summary
Very positivist approach, saw law just as a tool kit. Focuses only on legal language and the words of law, not its role in society. The idea behind positivism" as a legal philosophy is that legal systems are posited", that is, they are created by human acts and imposed on people, and have no natural or metaphysical" existence. The law exists independent of its impacts or questions of morality. Understand the nature of the legal system, as opposed to speculating the impacts or questioning the morality. Bentham & austin: law as sovereign command encouraged by threats and backed by sanctions. Legitimate social rules are accompanied by a basic, if implicit sense that they set a. General standard for all who play the game". External element: essentially the correspondent of the rules that are visible and seen. Internal elements: rules that we internalize and unconditionally shape our decisions on.
