Raz on Rights: Human Rights,Fundamental Rights,and Balancing

After clarifying the outlines of Raz's interest theory of rights and its relationship to aspects of the principles theory of rights, I consider how his recent observations on human rights manage to fit (or fail to fit) into the interest theory. I then address two questions. First, I elaborate on Raz's definition of morally fundamental rights, arguing that he is right in claiming that there are no such rights. I then show that the interest theory accommodates the notion that rights may take qualitative precedence over conflicting considerations—a question that has become increasingly relevant in light of recent writing on rights.     

Joseph Raz and the Instrumental Justification of a Duty to Obey the Law

Law and Philosophy -     

The Problem of Law's Authority: John Finnis and Joseph Raz on Legal Obligation

Law and Philosophy -     

The Purpose of Legal Theory: Some Problems with Joseph Raz’s View

This article seeks to clarify Joseph Raz’s contention that the task of the legal theorist is to explain the nature of law, rather than the concept of law. For Raz, to explain the nature of law is to explain the necessary properties that constitute it, those which if absent law would cease to be what it is. The first issue arises regarding his ambiguous usage of the expression “necessary property”. Concurrently Raz affirms that the legal theorist has the following tasks: (a) explain the essential properties of that which the concept of law refers to, which exists independently from any concept of law; (b) explain the essential properties of law given our concept of law. After trying to dissolve the ambiguity of Raz’s argument, I conclude that based on his methodological commitments the only possible task for a legal philosopher would be conceptual analysis, understood as the task of explaining our concept of law.     

政治文明建设与民主、法治、宪政、人权

修改宪法写入政治文明建设及国家尊重和保障人权条款,标志着我国社会主义民主、法治、宪政、人权事业进入一个新的建设时期。本文论述了对我国政治文明建设的理解及其与民主、法治、宪政、人权的关系,并对存在的问题作出了分析。     

法律权威与行动理由——基于拉兹实践哲学进路的考察

权威可以分为理论权威与实践权威、事实权威与合法权威,拉兹讨论的是合法的实践权威。权力与承认这两个概念都无法有效地界定合法的实践权威,在一定意义上可以说,拉兹的实践权威理论批判性地借鉴了权力论的分析模式并用行动理由作为基本分析概念。法律主张合法权威是法律的一个本质特征,法律规范也是一种强制性的行动理由,即一种内容独立的排他性理由。     

Hart,Raz and the Concept of a Legal System

An underpinning assumption of modern legal positivism isthat the question of how legal standards differ fromnormative standards in other spheres of human thoughtis resolved via the concept of a legal system and thenotion of internal logic, through use of contextualdefinition. This approach is seen to lead to anuntenable form of structuralism altogether atodds with the positivist's intentions. An alternativestrategy is offered which allows the positivists toretain their deepest insights, though at a price.     

法哲学视域下的民事权利概念

我国大陆现存的民事权利概念是专门由民法学家经营的一个概念,是民法学视域下的民事权利概念,也是狭义的民事权利概念。法哲学视域下的民事权利概念,是应该由法理学家或宪法学家经营的一个概念,是广义的民事权利概念。该概念应是站在法哲学的高度,在整个法学领域内,对民事权利进行全景式的认识和研究,因而该概念更具全面性和普适性。法哲学视域下的民事权利概念有利于全面认识和揭示民事权利的属性;有利于全面认识和揭示民事权利对法的作用和在法体系中的地位;有利于语词使用上的一致性。     

论法律文化与民法文化

法律文化是文化的重要组成部分,不同的法律文化产生不同的法律或者法律行为并进一步影响社会或者法律文化的发展。民法文化是法律文化的基础文化,是民法精神构造的核心。一定的民法文化内涵既代表了一定的民法精神构造,又由一定的民法精神构造所决定。有什么样的民法精神构造,必然有什么样的民法文化。认识民法和民法的精神构造,离不开对民法进行社会文化现象的考察,并通过不同文化现象的影响与作用进一步认识民法及其精神构造。     

Legal Security from the Point of View of the Philosophy of Law

Abstract. The author analyses the concept of legal security from its historical evolution to its main structural aspects. In the first part he argues that legal security is a historical and cultural concept of the modern world. He considers a series of factors which lead from the general concept of security generated by an ideological monism and the social rigidity characterizing the Middle Ages to the concept of legal security protected by the legal monism of the modern state, where legal security, understood as formal or procedural justice, has become a principle inspiring the entire legal system. Then he considers legal security in the social state as the expression of the relationship between man and his social needs. In the second part the author makes a structural analysis of the concept of legal security in a modern legal order, identifying the different spheres in which it can be found: state,—focusing on procedural guarantees as limits to power—, law—considering the internal functioning of the legal system—, society—stressing the effects of the action of the social state on the idea of legal security.     

On the Limits of Political Emancipation and Legal Rights

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique - In this paper I offer a new interpretation of Marx’s essay On the Jewish Question (OJQ)...     

The Human Rights Act and Legal Culture: The Judiciary and the Legal Profession

The purpose of this article is to consider the effect the United Kingdom’s currently prevailing legal culture is likely to have on the realization of cultural change presaged by the Human Rights Act. The article is in five parts. The first two address the preliminary questions: what is meant by ‘legal culture’ for these purposes, and what type of ‘human rights culture’ does the Human Rights Act envisage? The answers define the scope of the remainder of the article’s inquiry into the ways in which the Act itself and the culture of the United Kingdom legal profession and judiciary are likely to interact. The third part of the article identifies some examples of the sorts of culturally specific aspects of current legal practice which are likely to operate as serious practical constraints on the emergence of a human rights culture worthy of the name, before the fourth part considers what sorts of cultural changes will be required of judges and lawyers for the presaged cultural transformation to come about. Finally, the article asks whether there is any reason to believe that courts and lawyers can find from within their present culture the resources to bring about the necessary shift.     

刑法概念的法哲学问题

刑法的概念既重要又危险,而如何使其科学化却是被忽视了的法哲学问题。从刑法与道德和政治的关系出发,能够为重新理解刑法的概念开辟新路径。任何时代的刑法都是自己时代的公共道德与政治权力相互结合的产物,只不过由于政治权力的性质不同,这种结合方式亦会不同。现代刑法应具有对公共道德与公共政治进行双向控制的功能,而刑法生活是刑法道德基因所存在、表现的基本场域,回到刑法生活才是尊重和确证刑法之道德基因的基本途径。     

侵犯公民个人信息罪的法益重构:从私法权利回归公法权利

侵犯公民个人信息罪的法益不是私法上的个人信息自决权.个人信息不等于个人私有信息,个人对其信息并不具有完全的排他性支配权.侵犯公民个人信息罪的法益观应该从私法角度转向公法角度,刑法保护个人信息的目的不是确权,而是规避风险.公法上的个人信息受保护权既不是私法上的个人信息自决权,也不是超个人的信息公共安全.个人信息按照其私密性高低,分别属于三个不同领域,即最核心层的隐私领域、中间层的私人领域、最外层的社会领域.个人信息所属的不同领域直接影响到本罪构成要件符合性的判断.个人同意并不是本罪违法性判断的决定性因素,获得个人同意的行为当然不应该构成犯罪,但未获得个人同意的行为也可能不构成犯罪.     

法制现代化与传统儒家政治哲学

在法制现代化驶进快车道的今天,对儒家政治哲学持什么样的立场,是不可回避的话题。传统儒家政治哲学有一定的糟粕,在很大程度上阻碍着法制现代化的进程,但其中也不乏理性和智慧,值得我们去挖掘和弘扬。     

Islamic Law,Women's Rights,and Popular Legal Consciousness in Malaysia

Drawing on original survey research, this study examines how lay Muslims in Malaysia understand foundational concepts in Islamic law. The survey finds a substantial disjuncture between popular legal consciousness and core epistemological commitments in Islamic legal theory. In its classic form, Islamic legal theory was marked by its commitment to pluralism and the centrality of human agency in Islamic jurisprudence. Yet in contemporary Malaysia, lay Muslims tend to understand Islamic law as being purely divine, with a single “correct” answer to any given question. The practical implications of these findings are demonstrated through examples of efforts by women's rights activists to reform family law provisions in Malaysia. The examples illustrate how popular misconceptions of Islamic law hinder the efforts of those working to reform family law codes while strengthening the hand of conservative actors wishing to maintain the status quo.     

法律移植与法律文化变迁——以伊斯兰法文化变迁为例

任何一种法律文化在其发展过程中,都不可能完全保持其内部构成要素的一成不变,当法律与社会之间的不协调出现时,由于———一般情况下———不可能用法律来禁锢社会的发展,因而变更法律、对法律自身作一些调整就成为我们的不二选择。法律文化的这种为因应社会发展而不断调整自身的过程,就是法律文化变迁的过程。法律文化的变迁通常以两种不同的方式进行:一是依靠社会内部的力量慢慢演化,二是借助外来法律文化资源实现变迁。当一个民族或国家面临剧烈的社会变化或重大的社会转型时,往往会倾向于选择第二种方式来实现法律文化的变迁,这种方式…     

法治视野下的政法文化建设

文化是人类在改造、征服自然,创造历史的过程中形成的精神发展,是力量,是导向,是根脉。政法工作作为法治社会建设的重要组成部分,在社会主义建设事业中发挥了积极的作用,形成了丰富的政法文化。政法文化是对传统法文化的创新的拓展,是新时期我国先进文化的重要组成部分,也是构建法治社会的目标和内容之一。政法文化建设可以为中国的法治建设塑造出一颗颗“法治的心灵”,它对于培育法治理念,促进司法公正,实现依法治国,构建社会主义和谐社会无疑具有积极的意义。本文拟从理论的层面,对政法文化建设作初步探讨。一、政法文化的内涵政法文化一…