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Class 1: Why criminal law?
Theories of punishment &
Principles of criminalization
Lecture & Literature
What is Law?
In very broad terms, two principal answers have been given to this
deceptively simple question
Law consists of a set of universal moral - Adopted by natural lawyers
principles in accordance with nature
Law is nothing more than a collection - Adopted by legal positivists
of valid rules, commands, or norms
that may lack any moral content
Others perceive the law as fundamentally a vehicle for the protection of
individual rights, the attainment of justice, or economic, political
and sexual equality.
The social, political, moral, and economic dimensions of the law are essential
to a proper understanding of its workaday operation.
Rule of Law – Dicey
The ideal of rule of law is most closely associated with Dicey, who expounded
the fundamental precepts of the (unwritten) British constitution, and
especially the concept of the rule of law which, in his view, consisted of the
following three principles:
o The absolute supremacy or predominance of regular law as
opposed to the influence of arbitrary power.
o Equality before the law or the equal subjection of all classes to the
ordinary law of the land administered by the ordinary courts.
o The law of the constitution is a consequence of the rights of
individuals as defined and enforced by the courts.
Class 1: Why criminal law?
Theories of punishment &
Principles of criminalization
Lecture & Literature
What is Law?
In very broad terms, two principal answers have been given to this
deceptively simple question
Law consists of a set of universal moral - Adopted by natural lawyers
principles in accordance with nature
Law is nothing more than a collection - Adopted by legal positivists
of valid rules, commands, or norms
that may lack any moral content
Others perceive the law as fundamentally a vehicle for the protection of
individual rights, the attainment of justice, or economic, political
and sexual equality.
The social, political, moral, and economic dimensions of the law are essential
to a proper understanding of its workaday operation.
Rule of Law – Dicey
The ideal of rule of law is most closely associated with Dicey, who expounded
the fundamental precepts of the (unwritten) British constitution, and
especially the concept of the rule of law which, in his view, consisted of the
following three principles:
o The absolute supremacy or predominance of regular law as
opposed to the influence of arbitrary power.
o Equality before the law or the equal subjection of all classes to the
ordinary law of the land administered by the ordinary courts.
o The law of the constitution is a consequence of the rights of
individuals as defined and enforced by the courts.
