Legal Positivism as an Idea About Morality

Authors

Martin J. Stone, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of LawFollow

Publication Date

Spring 2011

Journal

University of Toronto Law Journal

Abstract

I ask what a proper critical target for 'legal positivism' might be. I argue that utilitarian moral theory, and more generally fully directive moral theories, are unacknowledged motivations for legal positivism. Contemporary debate about 'the nature of law' is, historically speaking, much more of a footnote to utilitarianism than has been recognized.

Volume

61

First Page

313

Publisher

University of Toronto Faculty of Law

DOI

Positivism, nature of law, utilitarianism, natural law, Hart, Austin, Kant, Weinrib

Keywords

Positivism, nature of law, utilitarianism, natural law, Hart, Austin, Kant, Weinrib

Disciplines

Jurisprudence | Law | Torts

Comments

Understanding the Law on Its Own Terms: Essays on the Occasion of Ernest Weinrib's Killiam Prize

Recommended Citation

Martin J. Stone, Legal Positivism as an Idea About Morality, 61 U. Toronto L.J. 313 (2011).
Positivism, nature of law, utilitarianism, natural law, Hart, Austin, Kant, Weinrib