DOCSLIB.ORG

A New Introduction to Jurisprudence

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A New Introduction to Jurisprudence A New Introduction to Jurisprudence A New Introduction to Jurisprudence takes one of the central problems of law and jurisprudence as its point of departure: what is the law? Adopting an intermediate position between legal positivism and natural law, this book reflects on the concept of ‘liberal democracy’ or ‘constitutional democracy’. In five chapters the book analyses: (i) the idea of higher law, (ii) liberal democracy as a legitimate model for the state, (iii) the separation of church and state or secularism as essential for the democratic state, (iv) the universality of higher law principles, (v) the history of modern political thought. This interdisciplinary approach to jurisprudence is relevant for legal scholars, philosophers, political theorists, public intellectuals, historians, and politicians. Paul Cliteur is Professor of Jurisprudence at Leiden University, the Netherlands. He is the author of The Secular Outlook (2010) and Theoterrorism v. Freedom of Speech (forthcoming). Afshin Ellian is Professor of Jurisprudence at Leiden University, the Nether- lands. He edited The State of Exception and Militant Democracy in a Time of Terror (2012) and Counterterrorism after the IS-Caliphate (forthcoming). This page intentionally left blank A New Introduction to Jurisprudence Legality, Legitimacy, and the Foundations of the Law Paul Cliteur and Afshin Ellian First published 2019 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2019 Paul Cliteur and Afshin Ellian The right of Paul Cliteur and Afshin Ellian to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Cliteur, P. B., author. | Ellian, Afshin, 1966-, author. Title: A new introduction to jurisprudence : legality, legitimacy and the foundations of the law / Paul Cliteur, Afshin Ellian. Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018055139| ISBN 9780367112349 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367112356 (pbk.) Subjects: LCSH: Jurisprudence. | Law--Philosophy. Classification: LCC K230.C595 .A35 2019 | DDC 340/.1--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018055139 ISBN: 978-0-367-11234-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-11235-6 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-02546-4 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by Taylor & Francis Books Contents List of figures viii Preface ix Acknowledgment of sources xiii 1 Legality and legitimacy in natural law and legal positivism 1 Five characteristics of natural law 4 Plato 6 Teleology 7 Man as a rational being 9 Metaphysical principles 10 Universal validity 10 A touchstone 11 Objections 12 Sein and Sollen 14 Leerformeln 15 Feelings 16 Evaluation of the objections 17 Lon Fuller 17 Natural law, a form of morality? 18 Judge and conductor 19 Ubi societas, ibi ius 20 Again: empty formulas? 20 Alternative natural law 21 Perelman and Hayek 22 Hayek on spontaneous order 23 Tradition 25 A touchstone for the law? 26 Gustav Radbruch 27 vi Contents H.L.A. Hart 29 The Hart-Fuller debate 30 A synthesis 30 Lex iniusta non est lex? 32 2 Constitutional democracy as a legitimate form of government 36 Postmodernism 37 Constitutional democracy 40 Democracy 42 Constitutionalism 43 Five principles of constitutionalism 46 The CCP 57 Humanism 59 Humanism and constitutionalism 61 Tension between entrenchment and democracy 62 Paine and Burke 63 Judicial review 65 Contradictions within the CCP 66 Two consequences 68 The end of history thesis again 72 3 The separation of church and state 75 Bishop Nazir-Ali 76 The atheist state 85 The theocratic state 87 The state with a state religion 99 The multicultural or multireligious state 102 The secular or agnostic state 106 4 The universality of values and principles 114 Cultural conflicts 115 Live and let live 117 Female genital mutilation 118 The conflict further defined 119 Tolerance out of respect 121 Cultural relativism 122 Six cultural relativists 123 Stace, Bloom, and Bork 140 Dickens and Kipling 142 Contents vii Seven elements of cultural relativism 145 Criticism of cultural relativism 150 Dworkin on “critical morality” 150 “Critical morality” and cultural anthropology 153 Consistency 155 Practical objections 158 Universality is indispensable 158 Hamed Abdel-Samad 162 5 The classical foundations of modern law 165 The modern worldview 167 From the Middle Ages to the modern era 169 Descartes 171 Criminal law and modernity 173 Enlightenment 178 Contract thinkers 180 Human rights 190 Rousseau and Hobbes again 194 Index 200 Figures 1.1 On June 11, 1776, the American Congress appointed a committee of five members tasked with drafting a declaration of independence. These members were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. In Jean Leon Gerome Ferris’s painting (1900), we see the committee at work. In a little over two weeks, Jefferson wrote a first draft, which was presented to Congress on June 29, 1776. 2 1.2 Socrates in his cell. After the Athenian authorities have sentenced him to drinking poison hemlock, he spends his last hours with his pupils, Plato among them. The painting The Death of Socrates (1762) is by Jacques-Philip-Joseph de Saint Quentin. 8 1.3 The Scottish philosopher David Hume, 1711–1776, painted here by Allan Ramsay in 1766, mostly became famous for his skeptical approach to the principle of causality. We do not see the cue’s thrust causing the roll of the snooker ball, but we do interpret reality in that way. 26 3.1 Israel worships the Baal Peor and Phineas kills Zimri and Cozbi, Maerten de Vos. 97 Preface The book A New Introduction to Jurisprudence: Legality, Legitimacy, and the Foundations of Law is a legal philosophy-flavored introduction to the law. It is compulsory reading for freshmen law students at Leiden University, the Nether- lands. The book’s purpose is to give law students a grasp of the “foundations of law.” The course Foundations of Law is part of the wider course Jurisprudence, which consists of three parts in Leiden: (i) Introduction to Positive Law, (ii) Foundations of Law, (iii) and Methods and Techniques of Legal Science. The course Jurisprudence can be designed in different ways, as the historical development of the course demonstrates. Generally considered the first Pro- fessor of Jurisprudence is John Austin (1790–1859), with his book The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (1832). He was the first to give the course inde- pendent status. Before, there had, of course, also been thinking on law, state, democracy, constitutionalism, just punishment, just war, and other subjects that are covered in Jurisprudence, but it had always (as in Plato, Aristotle, and Thomas Aquinas) been part of a general philosophy. Austin turned Jur- isprudence into a legal specialty, although a specialty of the most general nature, because it is the most general course that is taught at law faculties. (Loosely quoting Dutch historian Jan Romein [1893–1962], one could say that a practitioner of Jurisprudence is specialized in the general.) *** Most handbooks in Jurisprudence feature a mix of subjects that are expected to offer jurists an intensification of their study of positive law. In Jurisprudence: The Philosophy and Method of the Law (1962), Edgar Bodenheimer (1908– 1991), a German scholar who immigrated to the Unites States in 1933 (Berlin, California), presents a historic introduction to legal philosophy that covers the classical movements of “utilitarianism,”“analytical positivism,”“sociological jurisprudence and legal realism,” and “the revival of natural law and value- oriented jurisprudence.” This is supplemented by a thematic part in which “the need for order,”“the quest for justice,”“the rule of law,” and “law as a synthesis of order and justice” are discussed. x Preface In Jurisprudence: The Philosophy and Method of the Law (1962), the British R. W.M. Diaz (1921–2009) provides an overview and analysis of the core concepts of legal science, such as “justice, power, liberty, custom, values, persons, ownership,” supplemented by an overview of the most important philosophical movements in legal thought, such as “positivism,”“pure theory of the law,”“historical and anthropological approaches to the law,”“realism,” and “natural law thinking.” The American judge and legal scholar Richard A. Posner (b. 1939) presents a multitude of subjects, in which normative and methodological aspects of legal sci- ence and legal practice are connected, in The Problems of Jurisprudence (1990). Sometimes books do not mention Jurisprudence in their title, but do cover the subjects that other authors deal with under that term, such as the Brits S.I. Benn (1920–1986) and R.S. Peters (1919–2011) in Social Principles and the Democratic State (1959). Benn and Peters use a threefold division of (i) rules, (ii) social prin- ciples, and (iii) the principles of the democratic state. A New Introduction to Jurisprudence adopts the approach of other books on the subject of Jurisprudence, but (and here a warning is in order) it also differs in significant ways. We will address those differences now. First, the subject “methods and techniques of legal science” is beyond the scope of this book. The subjects “legal reasoning,”“analysis of rules and prin- ciples,” and “finding of law” are dealt with in a different framework (in another part of the freshman year in Leiden), not in this book.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Jhering's Concept of Rechtsgefühl and Its Role in the Struggle For
    TRANSFORMACJE PRAWA PRYWATNEGO 4/2017 ISSN 1641–1609 JOSEFA BIRR* Jhering’s concept OF RECHTSGEFÜHL AND ITS ROLE IN THE STRUGGLE FOR LAW “It is the energy of our moral nature protesting against the violation of the law; it is the most beautiful and the highest testimony which Rechtsgefühl can bear to itself […]”. With these words, Rudolf von Jhering captured the attention of his audience at his Vienna lecture of The Struggle for Law in 872. The following paper is divided into three parts. I begin with a review of Jher- ing’s concept of Rechtsgefühl2. I then go on to look at its particular meaning in The Struggle for Law. Finally, I show how the function of Rechtsgefühl in The Struggle for Law fits into Jhering’s overall concept ofR echtsgefühl. In the late 9th and early 20th centuries, German jurisprudence was concerned with the phenomenology of Rechtsgefühl. This concept is enigmatic. Its range of meaning extends from an inner psychological disposition, or something that is given a priori, to an educated feeling for legal right, similar to legal intuition. Re- lated terms and frequently used synonyms such as Rechtsbewusstsein, Rechtsemp- finden, Gewissen and Sittlichkeit make a clear definition difficult. Rechtsgefühl is widely translated as “the feeling of the legal right” or “sense of justice”. The concept of “legal sentiment” comes closest. Still, in my opinion, none of these is quite accurate. Thus, in the following I use the term Rechtsgefühl. * Dipl.-Jur., Göttingen. R. von Jhering: The Struggle for Law (1872), translated from the fifth German edition by J.J.
    [Show full text]
  • Summary of Academical Accomplishments 1. Christoph-Eric
    Summary of academical accomplishments 1. Christoph-Eric Mecke 2. Diploma of general studies of French law (“Diplôme d'Études Juridiques Générales Françaises”) at the Faculty of Law and Economics of the University of Tours (France) obtained in 1986 after completing studies in France during one year. Diploma after legal studies at the Faculty of Law at the Georg August University in Göttingen obtained in 1991 (first state law examination). Diploma after a two-year law application in courts, public administration, public prosecutor's office and private law offices, conferral of the title of an assessor of law (entitles in Germany to practice as judge, prosecutor and attorney) granted by the High Court of Lower Saxony in Celle in 2007 (second state law examination). Degree of a Doctor of Legal Science awarded by the Council of the Faculty of Law at the Georg August University in Göttingen on July 17, 2007 on the basis of a comprehensive law examination (“Rigorosum”) and the presented monographic dissertation entitled Begriff und System des Rechts bei Georg Friedrich Puchta [= Concept and legal system in the legal thought of Georg Friedrich Puchta] marked with the highest possible final grade “summa cum laude”. 3. Information on employment in academic positions: 1991-1993 - junior researcher at the Department of Legal Theory at the Faculty of Law at the Georg August University in Göttingen; from February 1, 2008 to March 31, 2016 – researcher at the Department of Civil Law and History of Law and lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the Leibniz University in Hanover, there I’m still an academic teacher in the field of legal history from April 15, 2016 to December 31, 2017 – researcher at the Department of Roman Law and Pandetics at the Faculty of Law of the Georg August University in Göttingen; from January 1, 2018 until today – researcher and lecturer at the Brunswick European Law School at the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences in Brunswick (Braunschweig).
    [Show full text]
  • America the Beautiful Part 1
    America the Beautiful Part 1 Charlene Notgrass 1 America the Beautiful Part 1 by Charlene Notgrass ISBN 978-1-60999-141-8 Copyright © 2020 Notgrass Company. All rights reserved. All product names, brands, and other trademarks mentioned or pictured in this book are used for educational purposes only. No association with or endorsement by the owners of the trademarks is intended. Each trademark remains the property of its respective owner. Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Cover Images: Jordan Pond, Maine, background by Dave Ashworth / Shutterstock.com; Deer’s Hair by George Catlin / Smithsonian American Art Museum; Young Girl and Dog by Percy Moran / Smithsonian American Art Museum; William Lee from George Washington and William Lee by John Trumbull / Metropolitan Museum of Art. Back Cover Author Photo: Professional Portraits by Kevin Wimpy The image on the preceding page is of Denali in Denali National Park. No part of this material may be reproduced without permission from the publisher. You may not photocopy this book. If you need additional copies for children in your family or for students in your group or classroom, contact Notgrass History to order them. Printed in the United States of America. Notgrass History 975 Roaring River Rd. Gainesboro, TN 38562 1-800-211-8793 notgrass.com Thunder Rocks, Allegany State Park, New York Dear Student When God created the land we call America, He sculpted and painted a masterpiece.
    [Show full text]
  • CSABA VARGA Transition? to Rule of Law? Varga Jogallami Angol Proba Tartalek Ks Korr01.Qxp 2008.01.23
    PoLíSz series CSABA VARGA Transition? To rule of law? varga_jogallami_angol_proba_tartalek_ks_korr01.qxp 2008.01.23. 12:28 Page 1 CSABA VARGA TRANSITION? TO RULE OF LAW? Constitutionalism and Transitional Justice Challenged in Central & Eastern Europe varga_jogallami_angol_proba_tartalek_ks_korr01.qxp 2008.01.23. 12:28 Page 2 CSABA VARGA was born in Pécs. Since graduation in law in 1965, he has been an academic researcher at the Institute for Legal Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, since 1991 as scientific adviser. He became a Professor of Law at the metropolitan Eötvös Loránd University in the same year. By the foundation of the Faculty of Law of the Pázmány Péter Catholic University of Hungary in 1995, he founded and has also been heading its Institute for Legal Philosophy, granted by the National Accreditation Committee in 2006 the sole title “Place of Excellence” for a chair in the country. One of the founders (as its secretary between 1976–2006 and since then as its chairman) of the Hungarian National Section of the International Association for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (IVR); a political adviser to and a member of the Advisory Board of the first free-elected Prime Minister of Hungary (1991–1994), serving as an editorial board member of Current Legal Theory (1983–1998), Ratio Juris (1988–), Legal Theory (1993–1999), as well as of Világosság [a philosophical forum] (2003–). In 2004, he was elected as an associated member of the International Academy of Comparative Law. His bibliography is available in both http://varga.jak.ppke.hu and Theatrvm legale mvndi Symbola Cs.
    [Show full text]
  • Virus 7.Indd
    VIRUS VIRUS BEITRÄGE ZUR SOZIALGESCHICHTE DER MEDIZIN HERAUSGEGEBENVIRUS VOM VEREIN FÜR SOZIALGESCHICHTE DER MEDIZIN BEITRÄGE ZUR SOZIALGESCHICHTE DER MEDIZIN 6 HERAUSGEGEBEN VOM VEREIN FÜR SOZIALGESCHICHTE DER MEDIZIN 7 VERLAGSHAUSVERLAGSHAUS DER DER ÄRZTE ÄRZTE GESELLSCHAFTGESELLSCHAFT FÜR MEDIENPRODUKTION FÜR MEDIENPRODUKTION UND UNDKOMMUNIKATIONSBERATUNG KOMMUNIKATIONSBERATUNG GMBH GMBH Vorstand: Präsidentin: Univ.-Doz. Mag. Dr. phil. Dr. med. Sonia Horn Präsidentin-Stv.: Mag. phil. Dr.med. Ingrid Arias Kassier: Mag. Dr. phil. Thomas Aigner, MAS Kassier-Stv.: Mag. pharm. Gilbert Zinsler Schriftführerin: Mag. phil. Karin Maringgele © 2008 Verlagshaus der Ärzte Schriftführerin-Stv.: Mag. Marcel Chahrour GmbH, Nibelungengasse 13, A 1010 Wien, Wissenschaftlicher Beirat: www.aerzteverlagshaus.at Univ.-Prof. Dr. phil. Gunda Barth-Scalmani, Innsbruck Das Werk ist urheberrechtlich Univ.-Prof. Dr. phil. Birgit Bolognese-Leuchtenmüller, Wien geschützt. Die dadurch begründeten Univ.-Prof. Dr. phil. Elisabeth Dietrich-Daum, Innsbruck Rechte, insbesondere das der Über- Univ.-Prof. Dr. phil. Dr. med. Michael Hubenstorf, Wien setzung, des Nachdrucks, der Pflegedir. DKS Maria Jesse, Wien Entnahme von Abbildungen, der Univ.-Prof. Dr. phil. Robert Jütte, Stuttgart Funksendung, der Wiedergabe auf Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Christine Marosi, Wien fotomechanischem oder ähnli- Univ.-Prof. Dr. rer.nat. Dr. med. Werner Mohl, Wien chem Wege und der Speicherung PD Dr. Carlos Watzka in Datenverarbeitungsanlagen, Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Claudia Wiesemann, Göttingen bleiben, auch bei nur auszugsweiser Verwendung, vorbehalten. Verein für Sozialgeschichte der Medizin Autoren und Verlag haben alle Förderung der Forschung auf dem Gebiet der Sozialgeschichte der Medizin mit dem Buchinhalte sorgfältig erwogen Ziel, eine Vielfalt von Herangehensweisen und Methoden zu unterstützen – Veran- und geprüft, dennoch kann keine staltung von Vorträgen, Seminaren, Tagungen, Ausstellungen und ähnlichen wis- Garantie übernommen werden.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 4: Federalists and Republicans, 1789-1816
    Unit The Young Republic 1789–1850 CHAPTER 4 Federalists and Republicans 1789–1816 CHAPTER 5 Growth and Division 1816–1832 CHAPTER 6 The Spirit of Reform 1828–1845 CHAPTER 7 Manifest Destiny 1840–1848 Why It Matters Internal improvements and industrial development began to transform the United States in the early 1800s, but these changes also highlighted the growing differences between the North and South and set the stage for civil war. At the same time, Americans fought a war with Mexico and continued to expand west, building a nation that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 150 Winterthur Museum The bustle and excitement of an Election Day in Philadelphia in the early 1800s 151 Chapter FFederalistsederalists andand Republicans 1789–1816 SECTION 1 Washington and Congress SECTION 2 Partisan Politics SECTION 3 Jefferson in Office SECTION 4 The War of 1812 This detail from Jean Leon Gerome Ferris’s painting Washington’s Inauguration at Independence Hall, 1793 shows Washington being greeted by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. 1804 • Lewis and Clark begin to explore the 1789 Louisiana Purchase • Washington Washington J. Adams Jefferson 1797–1801 1801–1809 becomes 1789–1797 1794 1803 president • Jay’s Treaty • Louisiana Purchase is signed doubles size of the nation U.S. PRESIDENTS U.S. EVENTS 1790 1795 1800 WORLD EVENTS 1789 1793 1798 • French • Louis XVI is • Quasi-War between Revolution guillotined during France and the US begins French Revolution begins 152 Chapter 4 Federalists and Republicans MAKING CONNECTIONS Why Do People Form Political Parties? The Constitution does not mention political parties, and the Founders thought they were a bad idea in a democ- racy, yet almost immediately after the federal govern- ment was created, political parties began to take shape.
    [Show full text]
  • Alexy's Theory Of
    Over the years Robert Alexy has devel- the other dimensions of his system are pre- oped a systemic approach to legal theory, sented here, along with a contribution on Alexy’s Theory of Law an approach whose dimensions include human rights, one of Alexy’s more recent discourse theory, principles theory, and a foci. Alexy’s work is receiving ever greater Proceedings of the Special Workshop “Alexy’s Theory of Law” non-positivist conception of law. Principles attention, both at home, in Germany, and th theoryisfoundattheverycoreofAlexy’s abroad, with translations of his treatises held at the 26 World Congress of the International Association for system. Constitutional rights, he argues, and papers into many languages. The au- Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy in Belo Horizonte, 2013 are best understood as principles, and thors of the contributions aim to promote collisions between constitutional rights enquiry into Alexy’s project. While their – understood now as competing princi- general approach is that of analytical ju- ples – are resolved by balancing their re- risprudence, the individual contributions Edited by Júlio Aguiar de Oliveira / Stanley L. Paulson / spective weights. Critical examinations of reflect great variety in their respective as- Alexandre Travessoni Gomes Trivisonno Alexy’s work on principles theory and on sessments of Alexy’s seminal work. s Theory ofLaw ’ Alexy www.steiner-verlag.de ARSP ARSP Beiheft 144 Archiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie Franz Steiner Verlag Franz Steiner Verlag ISBN 978-3-515-11043-3 de Oliveira / Paulson / Trivisonno 9 7 8 3 5 1 5 1 1 0 4 3 3 Alexy’s Theory of Law Edited by Júlio Aguiar de Oliveira / Stanley L.
    [Show full text]
  • Law As a Means
    LEGAL RESEARCH PAPER SERIES Paper No 8/2009 March 2009 Law as a Means LESLIE GREEN A revised version of this paper will appear in Peter Cane, ed. Hart-Fuller at 50 (Oxford: Hart Publishing) An abstract of this paper can be downloaded without charge from the Social Science Research Network electronic library at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1351304 An index to the working papers in the University of Oxford Legal Research Paper Series is located at: <http://www.ssrn.com/link/oxford-legal-studies.html> LAW AS A MEANS Leslie Green∗ I. The instrumentalist thesis No one doubts that individual laws often serve as means to promote or secure certain ends. The rule against perpetuities is a means of setting temporal limitations on the grant of an estate. Bundles of laws working through statutes or fields of doctrine are also means to ends, including ends that are, under other descriptions, means to further ends. Enacting the Fewer School Boards Act1, for example, was intended as a means to the end of reducing the number of school boards, which was in turn intended as a means of uncoupling education from property tax, which was intended as a means of asserting financial discipline (and other sorts of discipline) over local schools, which the government of the day considered a desirable end. Examples like that make the instrumentality of laws sound like a top‐down affair. Just as often it is bottom‐up. It is not only legislatures and courts but also individuals who use laws as means to their ends. Leona Helmsley wanted her dog to be adequately provided for after her own death.
    [Show full text]
  • Thomas Jefferson
    WRITING the DECLARATION 0. WRITING the DECLARATION - Story Preface 1. A BOY'S LIFE 2. TREASURES ... LOST and FOUND 3. EARLY INFLUENCES 4. TOM'S MOUNTAIN 5. A WRITER not a SPEAKER 6. WE ARE ALL BORN FREE 7. THE DECLARATION HOUSE 8. SLAVERY and the DECLARATION 9. WRITING the DECLARATION 10. DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE 11. IMMEDIATE IMPACT 12. TIME WASTES TOO FAST 13. A MAN of CONTRADICTIONS 14. JEFFERSONIAN QUOTES 15. A SPECIAL 4TH OF JULY This image - from a postcard based on the oil-on-canvas painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1863-1930) - depicts what it may have been like to watch Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson assessing, and editing, Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence. Online, courtesy Library of Congress. As Jefferson created the document which became America's creed, how much time did he spend on his project? Where did he find words like "the pursuit of happiness?" He greatly respected John Locke, whose Second Treatise of Civil Government (see, for example, chapter 2, section 5) addresses mankind's natural rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of property. He thought Discourses Concerning Government (by Algernon Sidney) - which disputes the "natural power" of kings - "is probably the best elementary book of the principles of government." (See Jefferson's December 13, 1804 letter to Mason Weems.) And ... he admired the philosophy of Scotsman Henry Home (Lord Kames) whose book of essays on morality is one of the few which Jefferson personally annotated. Widely read, Jefferson absorbed the concepts of such writers and merged what he found useful with his own thinking.
    [Show full text]
  • The Citizen's Almanac
    M-76 (rev. 09/14) n 1876, to commemorate 100 years of independence from Great Britain, Archibald M. Willard presented his painting, Spirit of ‘76, Iat the U.S. Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, PA. The painting depicts three generations of Americans fighting for their new nation’s freedom, one of whom is marching along though slightly wounded in battle. Willard’s powerful portrayal of the strength and determination of the American people in the face of overwhelming odds inspired millions. The painting quickly became one of the most popular patriotic images in American history. This depiction of courage and character still resonates today as the Spirit of ‘76 lives on in our newest Americans. “Spirit of ‘76” (1876) by Archibald M. Willard. Courtesy of the National Archives, NARA File # 148-GW-1209 The Citizen’s Almanac FUNDAMENTAL DOCUMENTS, SYMBOLS, AND ANTHEMS OF THE UNITED STATES U.S. GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL EDITION NOTICE Use of ISBN This is the Official U.S. Government edition of this publication and is herein identified to certify its authenticity. Use of the ISBN 978-0-16-078003-5 is for U.S. Government Printing Office Official Editions only. The Superintendent of Documents of the U.S. Government Printing Office requests that any reprinted edition clearly be labeled as a copy of the authentic work with a new ISBN. The information presented in The Citizen’s Almanac is considered public information and may be distributed or copied without alteration unless otherwise specified. The citation should be: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Office of Citizenship, The Citizen’s Almanac, Washington, DC, 2014.
    [Show full text]
  • George Washington: a New Man for a New Century
    GEORGE WASHINGTON: A NEW MAN FOR A NEW CENTURY By Barry Schwartz George Washington never tolerated the notion, flaunted by some of his successors in the Presidential chair that the voice of the people, whatever its tone or its message, is the voice of God; nor was his political philosophy summed up in “keeping his ear to the ground, ” in order to catch from afar the ramblings of popular approval or dissent.... Will any one say that there is no need of such men now, or that the common people would not hear them gladly if once it were known that they dwelt among us? —The Nation, 18891 Every conception of the past is construed from the standpoint of the concerns and needs of the present.”2 Could the sociologist George Herbert Mead’s statement be applied to George Washington at the 1899 centennial of his death? Was Washington the same man at the turn of the twentieth century, when America was becoming an industrial democracy, as he was at the turn of the nineteenth, when the nation was still a rural republic? The title of the present essay suggests that the question has already been answered, but the matter is more complex than that. Because any historical object appears differently against a new background, Washington’s character and achievements necessarily assumed new meaning from the Jacksonian era and Civil War through the Industrial Revolution. Washington’s changing image, however, is only one part of this story. Focusing on the first two decades of the twentieth century, the other part of the story—“Washington’s unchanging image”—must also be considered.
    [Show full text]
  • Hart and Fuller on Radbruch
    The Catholic Lawyer Volume 5 Number 2 Volume 5, Spring 1959, Number 2 Article 5 One Phase of the New Debate on the Iniquitous Law - Hart and Fuller on Radbruch William F. Cahill, B.A., LL.B., J.C.D. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/tcl Part of the Catholic Studies Commons, and the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Catholic Lawyer by an authorized editor of St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ONE PHASE OF THE NEW DEBATE ON THE INIQUITOUS LAW- Hart and Fuller on Radbruch WILLIAM F. CAHILL, B.A., LL.B., J.C.D.* ERICA, IN THE FIRST HALF of the twentieth century, heard little debate on the question, "Need the law be moral?" Many who might have taken the negative in such a debate said nothing because they thought the question meaningless or at least unprofitable.' Not imagin- ing that the law could need conscience, they discounted the power of conscience to make demands upon the law, and so put aside the problem of relating morals and the law. It was enough to know that in the distant past Blackstone had maintained that an immoral law had no validity,2 while Austin asserted that a law which actually exists is a law though it contravene morals. 3 The debate could be revived only by the occurrence of some event in which might appear the unimagined horrors that could be produced by laws which neither relied upon conscience nor answered to con- science.
    [Show full text]