Keywords
rule of law, legal positivism, separation of law and morals, natural law, American founding, convention, conventionalism, principles of rule of law, morality and law
Abstract
The classic opposition of legal positivism and natural law theory resurfaces continually and reminds us that we have yet to resolve this key conflict in our ways of understanding the moral authority of law. The strengths and weaknesses of the two theories are reviewed—both have fatal flaws. Conventionalism is proposed as a means of finding internal standards in a man-made system of law. The naturally emerging standards for a conventionalist system of law turn out to be the already familiar principles of the rule of law.
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Reynolds, Noel B., "THE SEPARATION OF LAW AND MORALS" (1986). Faculty Publications. 1456.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/1456
Document Type
Working Paper
Publication Date
1986-11-28
Permanent URL
http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/3386
Language
English
College
Family, Home, and Social Sciences
Department
Political Science
Copyright Status
Noel B. Reynolds, author and copyright holder Lecture outline--given at BYU, November 28, 1986
Copyright Use Information
http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/