LS351 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Thought Experiment, Ronald Dworkin, Public Health
27 May 2016
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Dworkin: strengths: to be the view of the vast majority of people a principles account of law"s legitimacy offers a clear and principled rationale for legal reform and change, weaknesses: Utility: the pleasure or usefulness of a thing/action: objective and measurable, other sense of positivism , that act is best which results in the greatest amount of utility in the world. Seven criteria to help measure: intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity , fecundity , purity, extent. Utilitarian law: in terms of legislation, the legislator (or group thereof) is to run the hedonistic calculus in terms of everything and follow the results wherever they may lead. Favoured the abolition of slavery, the death penalty and even spanking children. Fair spread of tax burden; free market economy with opportunity for all. No cruel punishment for criminals, rehabilitation instead. The law can still be both legitimate and valuable even without fulfilling people"s ideal moral criteria.
