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LAW, MORALITY, AND THE GUIDANCE OF CONDUCT

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2001

Scott J. Shapiro
Affiliation:
Yeshiva University

Abstract

Legal positivism is generally characterized by its commitment to two theses —one negative, the other positive.See, e.g., Jules Coleman, Negative and Positive Positivism, J. LEGAL STUD. 139 (1982), reprinted in Jules L. Coleman, MARKETS, MORALS AND THE LAW 3 (1988). The negative thesis, usually referred to as the “Separability Thesis,” denies any necessary connection between morality and legality. Legal positivists do not require that a norm possess any desirable, or lack any undesirable, moral attributes in order to count as law.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1997 Cambridge University Press

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