PHIL 2050 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Susan Dimock, The Province, Relate
Document Summary
Not to be used without written permission of the copyright holder. Legal positivists reject all the evaluative requirements for law posited by natural law theorists: reason, common good, justice. Two kinds of law: divine law: laws set by god to him human creatures, human (postive) law: laws set by men to men (sic). Positive law is set by political superiors to subordinates. Expressions of a wish that another do or refrain from some action. Willingness and ability to inflict evil on the other should he not do as commanded. The person to whom the command is issued (the subordinate) is bound or obliged, under a duty, to do as commanded. Sanction is the evil to which the commanded is liable (punishment is a subset of sanctions). Laws are distinct from occasional or particular commands. Laws are general in the sense that they oblige generally to acts or forbearances of a class.
