Review Sept 905 W.ppt

Public Law I 2005 ReviewSept. 9/05: What is law? Is law a set of rules intended to govern behaviour? What makes law legitimate in a democracy? Can you understand law from a purely linguistic perspective? What role is played by Judicial discretion? Discretion of lawyers? Interpretation by public servants and elected politicians? Interpretation by ordinary citizens? Need to understand the system of justice Schools of jurisprudence Judicial positivism (John Austin, A.V. Dicey, H.L.A. Hart) The only law that exists is the written law Good judges can always interpret the positive law correctly