Legal Norms: Justice, Validity, and Effectiveness Analysis

Tema 4: Three Essential Dimensions of Law

QUOTE 7: "The reaction of Law consists in a coercive measure imposed by order and socially organised, whereas the moral reaction against a conduct which is contrary to ethical norms is not established by the moral order, and, if available, is not socially organised". - Hans Kelsen

QUOTE 8: "Sanctions are necessary, therefore, not as the normal motive for obedience, but as a guarantee that those who voluntarily obey will not be sacrificed to those who do not. If such an order did not exist, obeying would mean bearing the brunt. Taken this danger into account, what reason demands is a voluntary cooperation within a coercive system". - H.L.A. Hart

Dimensions of Legal Norms (Bobbio)

QUOTE 1: "Indeed, we can consider a threefold order of problems against any legal norm: 1) whether it is fair or unfair, 2) whether it is valid or invalid; 3) whether it is effective or ineffective. These are three different issues related to justice, to validity, and to the effectiveness of a legal norm." - Norberto Bobbio

QUOTE 2: ‘These three criteria of evaluation of a norm create three distinct types of problems, independent of one another, since justice does not depend on validity or effectiveness; validity does not depend on effectiveness or justice, and effectiveness does not depend on justice or validity.’ - Norberto Bobbio

Tema 5: Iusnaturalism and Legal Positivism

Natural Law Principles

QUOTE 1: “The most clear form of expression from this point of view, maybe because it is the most extreme, is the one associated with the Thomist tradition of natural law. It includes a double thesis. First, there are some principles of reliable morality or justice that might be discovered by human judgment without the help of revelation, even when they have a divine origin. In the second place, that the regulations or human laws that contradict those principles are not a valid law. “Lex iniusta non est lex” (...) “With the words of Saint Augustine, ‘what are the states without justice, but gangs of raiders on a big scale?’” (Confessions, IV)”. - H.L.A. Hart