ENR 4400 - Law And Legal
Process Exam Study Set
What is law according to three definitions learned in class? - Answer 1. A command
which obliges a person to acts or forbearances --- it tells you how to act or prohibits you
from acting (John Austin)
2. A prediction of what courts will do---ultimately whatever a court decides, all law is
interpreted (Oliver Wendell Holmes)
3. A system of social relationships which corresponds to the interests of the dominant
class & safeguarded by them---elites create and protect laws to serve own interests
(Stuchka)
What is positive law? - Answer Laws that are recognized and enforced by human
institutions, aka particular law
What is natural law? - Answer The concept that there is a universal notion of right and
wrong, one which everyone instinctively apprehends, aka universal law
Which type of law can "give a way in from the outside of the elite" - Answer natural law --
ex. Toussaint L'Oeuvreture and the Haitian slave revolt
What are the four main differences between natural law (morality) and positive law? -
Answer 1. Level of importance
2. How they are changed
3. Responsibility for inability to act
4. Enforcement
What are four commonalities between natural law and positive law? - Answer 1.
Prohibitions against violence
2. At least a minimal amount of property rights
3. Sanctions against non-compliance (they both have consequences)
4. Provisions for compromise and exchange
Discuss the types of law using the example of air pollution - Answer Natural law: every
human has the right to breathe clean air
Positive law: Clean Air Act requires EPA to regulate emission of pollutants that
"endanger public health and welfare"
Process Exam Study Set
What is law according to three definitions learned in class? - Answer 1. A command
which obliges a person to acts or forbearances --- it tells you how to act or prohibits you
from acting (John Austin)
2. A prediction of what courts will do---ultimately whatever a court decides, all law is
interpreted (Oliver Wendell Holmes)
3. A system of social relationships which corresponds to the interests of the dominant
class & safeguarded by them---elites create and protect laws to serve own interests
(Stuchka)
What is positive law? - Answer Laws that are recognized and enforced by human
institutions, aka particular law
What is natural law? - Answer The concept that there is a universal notion of right and
wrong, one which everyone instinctively apprehends, aka universal law
Which type of law can "give a way in from the outside of the elite" - Answer natural law --
ex. Toussaint L'Oeuvreture and the Haitian slave revolt
What are the four main differences between natural law (morality) and positive law? -
Answer 1. Level of importance
2. How they are changed
3. Responsibility for inability to act
4. Enforcement
What are four commonalities between natural law and positive law? - Answer 1.
Prohibitions against violence
2. At least a minimal amount of property rights
3. Sanctions against non-compliance (they both have consequences)
4. Provisions for compromise and exchange
Discuss the types of law using the example of air pollution - Answer Natural law: every
human has the right to breathe clean air
Positive law: Clean Air Act requires EPA to regulate emission of pollutants that
"endanger public health and welfare"