Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T05:34:24.567Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

THE INTELLIGIBILITY OF EXTRALEGAL STATE ACTION: A General Lesson for Debates on Public Emergencies and Legality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

François Tanguay-Renaud
François Tanguay-Renaud*
Affiliation:
Osgoode Hall Law School, York [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Some legal theorists deny that states can conceivably act extralegally in the sense of acting contrary to domestic law. This position finds its most robust articulation in the writings of Hans Kelsen and has more recently been taken up by David Dyzenhaus in the context of his work on emergencies and legality. This paper seeks to demystify their arguments and ultimately contend that we can intelligibly speak of the state as a legal wrongdoer or a legally unauthorized actor.

Type
Research Article
Information
Legal Theory , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , September 2010 , pp. 161 - 189
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Appiah, K. A. (2005) The Ethics of Identity (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press).Google Scholar
Austin, J. (1954) The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (New York: Weidenfeld).Google Scholar
Copp, D. (2006) “On the Agency of Certain Collective Entities: An Argument from ‘Normative Autonomy.’“ In French, P. and Wettstein, H.K., eds., Midwest Studies in Philosophy: Shared Intentions and Collective Responsibility, vol. 30 (Boston: Blackwell).Google Scholar
de Doelder, H. and Tiedemann, K., eds. (1996) Criminal Liability of Corporations (The Hague: Kluwer).Google Scholar
Dicey, A.V. (1959) An Introduction to the Law of the Constitution, 10th ed. (London: MacMillan 1959).Google Scholar
Dworkin, R. (2004) “Hart's Postscript and the Character of Political Philosophy.” Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 24: 1–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyzenhaus, D. (1991) Hard Cases in Wicked Legal Systems: South African Law in the Perspective of Legal Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Dyzenhaus, D. (2005) “The State of Emergency in Legal Theory.” In Ramraj, V.V., Hor, M., and Roach, K., eds., Global Anti-Terrorism Law and Policy, 65–89 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyzenhaus, D. (2006) The Constitution of Law: Legality in a Time of Emergency (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyzenhaus, D. (2007) “States of Emergency.” In Goodin, R.E., Pettit, P., and Pogge, T., eds., A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy, 804–812 (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Dyzenhaus, D. (2008) “The Compulsion of Legality.” In Ramraj, V.V., ed., Emergencies and the Limits of Legality, 33–59 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyzenhaus, D. (2009) “The Puzzle of Martial Law.” University of Toronto Law Journal 59: 1–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyzenhaus, D. (forthcoming 2010) “L'état d'exception.” In Troper, M. and Chagnollaud, D., eds., Traité international de droit constitutionnel (Paris: Dalloz).Google Scholar
Erskine, T. (2003) “Assigning Responsibilities to Institutional Moral Agents: The Case of States and ‘Quasi-States.’“ In Erskine, T., ed., Can Institutions Have Responsibilities: Collective Agency and International Relations, 19–40 (New York: Palgrave MacMillan).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feinberg, J. (1965) “The Expressive Function of Punishment.” The Monist 49: 397–423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finnis, J. (1973) “Revolutions and Continuity of Law.” In Simpson, A.W.B., ed., Oxford Essays in Jurisprudence: Second Series, 44–76 (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Finnis, J. (1980) Natural Law and Natural Rights (Oxford: Clarendon Press).Google Scholar
French, P. (1984) Collective and Corporate Responsibility (New York: Columbia University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuller, L. (1967) Legal Fictions (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press).Google Scholar
Gardner, J. (2008) “Hart and Feinberg on Responsibility.” In Kramer, M.H., Grant, C., Colburn, B., and Hatzistavrou, A, eds., The Legacy of H.L.A. Hart: Legal, Political, and Moral Philosophy, 143–164 (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Gee, G. and Webber, G.C.N.. (2010) “What Is a Political Constitution?” Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 30: 1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, L. (1990) The Authority of the State (Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hart, H.L.A. (1968) Punishment and Responsibility: Essays in the Philosophy of Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Hart, H.L.A. (1982) Essays on Bentham: Jurisprudence and Political Theory (Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hart, H.L.A. (1994) The Concept of Law, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press).Google Scholar
Hobbes, Thomas (1996) Leviathan, edited by Gaskin, J.C.A. (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Jaconelli, J. (1999) “The Nature of Constitutional Convention.” Legal Studies 19: 24–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kant, I. (1991) The Metaphysics of Morals, edited by Gregor, Mary (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelsen, H. (1976) Pure Theory of Law, translated by Knight, Max (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press).Google Scholar
Kelsen, H. (1997) Introduction to the Problems of Legal Theory, translated by Paulson, B. Litschewski and Paulson, S.L. (Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelsen, H. (2006) General Theory of Law and State (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers).Google Scholar
List, C. and Pettit, P.. (2008) “Group Agency and Supervenience.” In Hohwy, J. and Kallestrup, J., eds., Being Reduced: New Essays on Reduction, Explanation, and Causation, 75–92 (New York: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacCormick, N. (1999) Questioning Sovereignty (Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McMahan, J. (2009) Killing in War (Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nussbaum, M.C. (2007) The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pettit, P. (2007) “Responsibility Incorporated.” Ethics 117: 171–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raz, J. (1979) The Authority of Law: Essays on Law and Morality (Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raz, J. (1980) The Concept of a Legal System, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raz, J. (1990) Practical Reason and Norms, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Raz, J. (2006) “The Problem of Authority: Revisiting the Service Conception.” Minnesota Law Review 90: 1003–1044.Google Scholar
Ripstein, A. (2009) Force and Freedom: Kant's Legal and Political Philosophy (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmitt, C. (2005) Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty, translated by Schwab, G. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tamir, Y. (1995) Liberal Nationalism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, D.F. (1985) “Criminal Responsibility in Government.” In Pennock, J.R. and Chapman, J.W., eds., Nomos XXVII: Criminal Justice, 201–240 (New York: New York University Press).Google Scholar
Thorburn, M. (2008) “Justifications, Powers, and Authority.” Yale Law Journal 117: 1070–1130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar