Practice question · Multiple choice
Legal positivism insists that the moral worth of a statute and its legal validity are independent questions. What follows from this distinction when an advocate assesses an oppressive, legally enacted statute?
Hints
- Which discipline examines what the codes say, rather than whether the arrangement is just?
- Does acknowledging that a statute is formally valid require you to agree that it is morally good?
Show the answer
C. She must analyse its formal validity apart from any moral critique
Why
Positivism separates legal validity (norm) from justice (value). Conflating the two collapses positivism into natural-law theory or conflates legality with moral justification. Dogmatics assesses validity through proper enactment, leaving ethical critique to legal philosophy.
Practise The Four Things the Word "Law" Means
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