POLISCI 101 Chapter Notes -Legal Positivism, Constitutionalism, Procedural Justice
8 Sep 2013
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Document Summary
In the late 19th century, the west became a law-governed society, i. e. the decisions of its rulers were codified to limit the exercise of arbitrary power and to provide predictability. Two functions of the law: rule by law concern is the authoritative allocations of societal values, laws are created to regulate human conduct. Everyone in society is expected to obey the law, theoretically everyone is equal before it. In many constitutions, the legal system is a check upon the exercise of executive power: usually judicial branch is removed, free from the state. Just laws are : general in scope, public, prospective rather than retroactive, clear, consistent, relatively constant, capable of being obeyed, enforced as written. Can lead to clash between the courts" enforcement of rights and parliamentary. 4 forms of legal adjudication of political problems sovereignty: 1) the law is law , as practiced in france, pre-modern china. Law is for deterrence, the whole legal code is sacrosanct.
