POLB30H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Parliamentary Sovereignty, Precedent, Legal Positivism
Document Summary
Common law: the part of law that is derived from custom and judicial precedent rather than statutes. Precedent (stare decisis): legal decisions must be based on a precedent (the relevant previous legal rulings). Week 2: amistad (the right to have rights; the right to resist) Right to resistance: when one"s life is in danger, they are naturally allowed to defend themselves from that said danger. In the amistad, the slaves on the boat had the right to bring upon a mutiny to ensure the protection of their rights. Right to have rights: according to thomas hobbes and john locke (social contract theorists), every many is free in the state of nature. In the amistad case, slaves were not seen as real human beings and thus did not have the same rights as everyone else. Natural law: principles that are derived from reason (i. e. you should not kill innocent people).
