Natural Law and Normative Inclinations

Natural law ethics holds that practical rationality consists in engaging in non‐defective ways with a range of fundamental goods. These basic goods are characteristically presented as reflecting the natural properties of humans, but the details of this picture vary widely. This article argues that natural law ethics can usefully be understood as a type of dispositional theory of value, which identifies the basic goods with those objectives that humans are characteristically disposed to pursue and value for their own sake. Natural law theories of practical rationality can then be understood as attempts to capture the principles that would govern engagement with the basic goods under ideal conditions. The article begins by offering an account of normative inclinations as human dispositions both to act in certain ways and to believe that the actions are worthwhile or required. It then explores the implications of this account for natural law ethics, discussing the role of the basic goods in practical rationality, whether the goods may change over time and the connection between the goods and human nature.     

现代场景与基本善的使命——读菲尼斯《自然法与自然权利》

《自然法与自然权利》是菲尼斯的经典代表作。基于对坚持价值中立的描述性社会科学的反思,菲尼斯提出了以基本善为主体的自然法理论。他的基本善包括生命、知识、游戏、社交、美感经验、实践理性、宗教等七个方面。通过设定基本善的不可通约等特征,菲尼斯的自然法理论既承袭了古典思想又应对了现代场景。     

Cosmopolitan Duty and Legitimate State Authority

In this paper I apply a suitably developed version of Joseph Raz’s service conception of authority to the debate over the legitimacy of state action aiming to fulfill cosmopolitan moral obligations. I aim to advance two interrelated theses. First, viewed from the perspective of Raz’s service conception of authority, citizens’ moral duties to non-compatriots are an appropriate ground for authoritative intervention by agents of the state. Second, international law based on these duties can also enjoy moral authority over government decision makers. An important source of the moral force of international law is derived from the power of international law to improve officials’ ability to recognize and conform to the totality of their reasons, which contributes to their states’ legitimacy.     

Morality in criminal law and criminal procedure: Principles,doctrines, and court cases

One of the drawbacks of the current era of predominance of Positive Law over Natural law, is that the moral roots of criminal law are all too easily overlooked or even ignored. Yet one should always keep in mind that moral standards (and the related area of Natural Law) historically preceded any type of criminal legislation or judicial decisions. This Note describes some selected aspects of criminal law of the United States (both substantive and procedural), with occasional references to other countries where necessary. Particular attention is focused on criminal law court cases and on how they deal with morality. The author argues that much more attention should be paid to the fundamental relationship between moral values and criminal law.     

Three Separation Theses

Legal positivism's ``separationthesis' is usually taken in one of two ways: asan analytic claim about the nature of law –roughly, as some version of the SocialThesis; or as a substantive claim about themoral value of law – roughly, as some versionof the Value Thesis. In this paper Iargue that we should recognize a third kind ofpositivist separation thesis, one whichcomplements, but is distinct from, positivism'sanalytic and moral claims. The NeutralityThesis says that the correct analytic claimabout the nature of law does not by itself entail anysubstantive claims about the moral value oflaw. I give careful formulations of these threeseparation theses; explain the relationshipsbetween them; and sketch the role that eachplays in the positivist approach to law.     

中国法治的人文道路

现时代需要一种融合中西人文主义之精髓、兼济人的认知理性与道德理性的新人文主义。从人文主义的视角看,道德人文维度与民主政治维度是构建中国法治需要着力加强的两个方面。在法治发展道路上,中国需要协调好法治的道德、功利、政治与行政四个层面,沿着自身的文化传统,打造政治和社会的理性与道德基础,开拓一种具有厚重人文底蕴的"道德的民主法治",实现仁义道德与自然权利、民主法治在现代的历史衔接。     

Moral questions,legal answers,and biotechnological advances

Moral failing is usually construed as a personal flaw, but there is another construction: where morals fail people, where our moral precepts are silent. The author of this article argues that this happens nowadays where technological advances, such as genetic engineering in medicine, raise moral questions but get legal answers. By responding to the legal issues involved, the moral questions are pre-empted. This results in answers drawn from legal categories, often with commercial perspectives, but misses the larger moral dilemma.     

The ethical identity of law students

This paper uses measures of values, moral outlook and professional identity to explore the ethical and professional identity of law students. We do so in two jurisdictions, surveying 441 students studying in England and Wales and 569 students studying in the US. The survey covers the first and final years of an undergraduate law degree and the postgraduate vocational stage in England and Wales, as well as students in all years of the JD programme in the US. We explore whether law students towards the end of their legal education have ethical identities predictive of less ethical conduct than those at the beginning of their legal education; whether law students intending careers in business law have values and profiles consistent with less ethical conduct than those intending to work for government or individuals; and what factors might explain these differences in ethical outlook. Our findings suggest that ethical identity is strongly associated with gender and career intentions. They also suggest weaker moral identities for students intending to practise business law. Ultimately, our findings support a conclusion that is more nuanced than the predominant theses about the impact of legal education on student ethicality which tend to suggest legal education diminishes ethicality.     

Lies and Free Speech Values

In the short time since Seana Shiffrin published Speech Matters, ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts’ have become full-blown phenomena, and various forces have destabilized the line between truth and falsity. Now more than ever, Shiffrin’s project is one of urgent importance. This essay examines Chapter Four of Speech Matters, which asks the crucial question: when and how may the law regulate lies? Shiffrin concludes that the law could regulate lies much more often than it does, though sometimes it ought not to for pragmatic reasons. For all of Shiffrin’s masterful explication, there is perhaps more to say in the space between Chapter Three’s moral account of free speech and Chapter Four’s legal one. Setting existing doctrine aside, how would a society translate the moral principles of Chapter Three into a system of law? Which worries are intrinsic to free speech, and which are purely pragmatic? In other words, what does a thinker-based account of law look like?

     

从神谕到自然的启示:古希腊自然法的源起与生成

自然法发源于古希腊,脱胎于从神话的没落到理性知识诞生的演进过程。在神话时代,以正义为内容的超验法理念孕育而成。神话衰落之时,自然主义者将自然与事物的“质料”或“本原”等同起来,宣称万物都有一个非神的本原和遵循一个普遍的规律,以此提出自然法和人定法概念,得出人定法由自然法派生的论断。正当自然主义者以人定法具有自然法的正义秉性为据大力捍卫城邦法律之时,悲剧作家则发现了人定法与自然法的冲突,从而第一次赋予自然法以道德的内涵。其后的智者学派则以人的自然本性为据,重新定义了自然法,使自然法由宇宙的普遍法则演变成人类的固有法则,并从怀疑主义的立场将自然法与人定法对立起来,引申出一系列人类法律的价值和特有法则,标志着自然法概念的正式生成。     

The Various Relations between Law and Morality in Contemporary Legal Philosophy

This paper is intended to be a summary of the author's views on the relationship between law and morality worked out over the past three decades in jurisprudence. The paper preliminarily clarifies the matter by isolating some lines of cleavage separating different questions askable about this relationship. With this done, the author argues for two theses. One, that judges are obligated to use morality in their decisions in particular cases; and two, that the morality judges are obligated to use in their judicial reasonings, is best seen as the natural lawyer sees it, namely, as being part of the law that obligates judges in their role as judges. The author not only believes these theses to be true; he also thinks that these theses are practically important, in that their acceptance by judges (and by the legal culture that reinforces judges) makes for better judging.     

国际货物销售风险转移问题探讨

国际货物销售法中的“风险”是指由于自然灾害、意外事故或销售合同当事人以外的原因造成的卖方交付的货物遭受损坏、灭失的风险。关于风险转移的法律制度表明了特定交易条件下风险自卖方转移至买方的准确的时间和地点 ,使我们能通过确定货物损失原因、性质 ,决定由哪一方承担风险损失责任。《联合国国际货物销售合同公约》关于风险转移的基本原则是当事人可以通过引用诸如Incoterms中的贸易术语在销售合同中规定风险转移界限 ,公约还提出 5种补充性的风险转移模式。公约还规定了卖方违约时仍应承担风险事故造成的货物损失责任     

自然资源国家所有权三层结构说

宪法上规定的自然资源国家所有权不是专属于公法的所有权概念。它包含三层结构：第一层结构是私法权能。在这一层面上,它与物权法上的所有权无异。第二层结构是公法权能。其主要包括国家对于自然资源的立法权、管理权和收益分配权。第三层结构是宪法义务。国家应当为全体人民的利益行使其私法权能和公法权能。公共信托理论是描述国家作为自然资源所有人的宪法义务的法律理论,应当引入中国,或者对中国宪法第9条作公共信托理论式的解释,确立国家与人民在自然资源国家所有权结构中的地位。在中国的现实中,自然资源国家所有权最为薄弱的层面是其宪法义务。 “自然资源人民基金”的模式和尝试对中国有借鉴意义。宪法规定的自然资源所有权具有“不完全规范”的特质,直接转化为物权法上的物权存在困难。在目前宪法控制制度尚不健全的情况下,民法解释学可以发挥控制自然资源国家所有权肆意扩张和扭曲的准宪法功能。     

La ley natural y su falta de determinación. apuntes sobre la teoría clásica de la determinación del derecho natural

In classical philosophy only a fragment of the legal system is natural law. The natural precepts are solely a little part of the normative system of civil societies. Even though the natural principles are the fundament of positives rules, the iusnatural norms are not sufficient for the regulation of all aspects of human life. They are “indeterminate”. This is the reason of the need the normative power of State, of judges and particulars.     

We All Make Mistakes: A ‘Duty of Virtue’ Theory of Restitutionary Liability for Mistaken Payments

In contrast to the moral foundations of contract, tort, and the law of property, which are generally regarded as elements of Kantian ‘right’, the liability to return the value of mistaken payments is, it is argued, an example of the law's enforcing a duty of virtue, the legalisation of the duty of beneficence in a way similar (though not identical) to how the law might instantiate a duty of easy rescue. Accordingly, one of Birks's most cherished theses – that the law of unjust enrichment represents a distinctive element of private law – can be made out: it is distinctive in having an entirely different normative source: in virtue, not in right. But this result comes at a cost: (1) a legal system could function more or less justly without such a liability; (2) Birks's thesis that liability for mistaken payment is the archetype or paradigmatic case of liability for unjust enrichment would have to be abandoned; and (3) we would have to recognise that the ground of this liability is policy‐motivated.     

Legal Knowledge about What?

We assume—in contrast to many "legal realists"—that law is a part of reality. Law exists because people believe in law, but law is not identical with beliefs. Law supervenes on human beliefs, preferences, actions, dispositions and artefacts. Moreover, the morally binding personal interpretation of the law supervenes on two things together: on the individual's knowledge of legal institutions and on moral obligation. The first supervenes in its turn on mutual beliefs; the second supervenes on motivations and dispositions of the individual, provided that she is morally sensitive and rational. Personal interpretation of law converts into social law, if other persons on the basis of overriding reasons do not contest it. Morally binding social law supervenes on moral motivation that is triggered by institutions that supervene on mutual beliefs.     

Why we need the independent sector: the behavior, law, and ethics of not-for-profit hospitals

Among the major forms of corporate ownership, the not-for-profit ownership form is distinct in its behavior, legal constraints, and moral obligations. A new empirical analysis of the American Hospital industry, using eleven years of data for all urban general hospitals in the country, shows that corporate form accounts for large differences in the provision of specific medical services. Not-for-profit hospitals systematically provide both private and public goods that are in the public interest, and that other forms fail to provide. Two hypotheses are proposed to account for the findings, one legal and one moral. While no causal claims are made, not-for-profit hospital behavior is consistent with the behavior required by law and morality. The moral argument, developed as a preliminary theory of not-for-profit ethics, also provides a potential reason to prefer not-for-profit hospitals. The findings provide a new justification for the not-for-profit tax exemption for hospitals, and also suggest new uses for ownership categories as regulatory tools.     

On Two Distinct and Opposing Versions of Natural Law: “Exclusive” versus “Inclusive”

Abstract. This paper takes the dichotomy between “exclusive” and “inclusive” positivism and applies it by analogy to natural‐law theories. With John Finnis, and with Beyleved and Brownsword, we have examples of “exclusive natural‐law theory,” on which approach the law is valid only if its content satisfies a normative monological moral theory. The discourse theories of Alexy and Habermas are seen instead as “inclusive natural‐law theories,” in which the positive law is a constitutive moment in that it identifies moral rules and specifies their meaning. The article argues that inclusive theories of natural law are better suited to expressing an authentic “republican” attitude. *

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法律实证主义的强立场——兼评拉兹《法律的权威》

在法律与道德的关系上,拉兹认为有效法律的鉴别标准完全排除道德论证,这就是拉兹的渊源论.渊源论表明所有的法律都具有渊源,渊源论的论据来自权威论.权威以理由为基础,是改变行为理由的能力.法律也要主张权威,法律主张合法性权威是它的一个本质特征.权威性理由是排他性理由,排除了道德因素的可能性,权威论支持了渊源论.权威论受到了来自包容性实证主义者和德沃金的批评,他们的争论共同推进了对法律与道德关系问题的研究.