Where Law and Morality Meet

How are law and morality connected, how do they interact, and in what ways are they distinct? In Part I of this book, Matthew Kramer argues that moral principles can enter into the law of any jurisdiction. He contends that legal officials can invoke moral principles as laws for resolving disputes, and that they can also invoke them as threshold tests which ordinary laws must satisfy. In opposition to many other theorists, Kramer argues that these functions of moral principles are consistent with all the essential characteristics of any legal system. Part II reaffirms the legal positivist argument that law and morality are separable, arguing against the position of natural-law theory, which portrays legal requirements as a species of moral requirements. Kramer contends that even though the existence of a legal system in any sizeable society is essential for the realization of fundamental moral values, law is not inherently moral either in its effects or in its motivational underpinnings. In the final part, Kramer contests the widespread view that people whose conduct is meticulously careful cannot be held morally responsible for harmful effects of their actions. Through this argument, he reveals that fault-independent liability is present even more prominently in morality than in the law. Through a variety of arguments, Where Law and Morality Meet highlights both some surprising affinities and some striking divergences between morality and law.

ISBN 0199274193   Pages 308 ISBN13 9780199274192 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Oxford University Press   Weight (grammes) 613 Imprint Oxford University Press   Published in Oxford Format Hardback   Height (mm) 234 Publication date 21 Oct 2004   Width (mm) 156 Library of Congress 2004021135   Spine width (mm) 22 DEWEY 340.112   Academic level Professional / Scholarly DEWEY edition DC22

1		How moral principles can enter into the law		17
2		Throwing light on the role of moral principles in the law : further reflections		45
3		On morality as a necessary or sufficient condition for legality		76
4		Of final things : morality as one of the ultimate determinants of legal validity		103
5		Legal positivism defended		143
6		On the moral status of the rule of law		172
7		On the separability of law and morality		223
8		Moral rights and the limits of the 'ought'-implies-'can' principle : why impeccable precautions are no excuse		249

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Version	Price	Published	Edition
Paperback	£21.99	2008