SOSC 3375 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Legal Realism, Legal Positivism
15 Mar 2016
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Document Summary
Sls took off with gap studies in the 60s and 70s. Gap studies evolved: from earlier (classic) more na ve effects. Legal realists of the 20s and 30s reacting against dominant ideas: period of time where there were ambitious legal scholars (us) responding and combating the views of law that were present at that time. Legal positivism: that law consist of the positive commands of the sovereign. Law is found in authoritative texts: national law vs. positivist law. Law formalism: law and legal interpretation is a science of close reading. Hierarchy of more skilled lawyers and judges: expert discipline that requires learning and knowledge, expert in linguistic interpretation of what law means, decoding the law and applying it. Ex. close reading blacked letters (by lawyers) Also believed: law is rational, law governs behaviour. The sovereign commands and the people obey.
