International Law

Question 1

What is a law and how is it enforced?

Answer 1

Laws are preferred practices that are articulated as rules designed to influence behaviour.

 laws are rules of behaviour that are encouraged through coercive force or threat of.

Question 2

What is the purpose of a law?

Answer 2

1. Protecting society

2. Imposing morality

Question 3

Quote Mill on Harm Principle

Answer 3

“The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.”

Question 4

Weaknesses of Mills harm principle

Answer 4

 Private behaviours sometimes affect others e.g. not wearing a seatbelt and crashing, this impacts healthcare costs, impacting the collective tax burden

 Mill does not explain why preventing harm to others should be the only basis used to regulate behaviour, what about harming oneself or society.

Question 5

Natural Law Theory

Purpose

Answer 5

Natural Law Theorists determine the validity of a law by reference to a moral authority that exists beyond the law itself

Question 6

Natural Law Theory

Belief

Answer 6

 Law is not regarded as separate from morality but rather law is subordinate to that morality.
 NL theorists say that it may be difficult to determine our moral principles but there are sources that can be drawn upon via which we can formulate certain rules that will guide our collective behaviour.

Question 7

Sources of Moral Authority

NL

Answer 7

1. Religious source (holy books which containing a particular morality)
2. Intellectual origin *based on ration e.g. human rights  nothing says all people are equal, we merely reasoned that all of us due to our shared humanity are owed the same rights)
3. Natural origin (certain laws in nature)

Question 8

What is Law to Natural law theorists?

Answer 8

Law is a behavioural code that is sourced in a particular morality

Question 9

Should laws be obeyed?

According to Natural Law theorists

Answer 9

Only if a law aligns with that particular morality.

Question 10

Posivitism

Answer 10

Positivist theory believes that a law or norm has the status of law if a recognised human authority declares it to be law.

The law itself is irrelevant, positivists only care whether the law was enacted by the sovereign, morality is irrelevant.

Question 11

What are the 2 wquestions positivisists implore when assessing the validity of law?

Answer 11

1. Was the law created by the correct authority
2. Did the correct authority follow the appropriate procedures.

 The answer to both questions must be yes for a law to be valid

Question 12

Criticisms of Positivism:

Answer 12

P fails to explain how the Sovereign decides which laws to pass
–> As morality does not guide law making, what is guiding the sovereign?

P does not help us distinguish between a good or bad law, it allows us only to distinguish between a valid law and invalid law.

P fails to justify the process by which a law is enacted
E.g. How did they determine that the rule which allows parliament to make law is in itself valid?

Question 13

How do positivists determine that the rule which allows parliament to make law is in itself valid?

Answer 13

 Positivists respond to this by saying that the rule that governs law making is socially accepted.

Question 14

 What happened if the rule that governs the creation of law is rejected (e.g. revolutions, protests)?
Does the law remain valid?

Answer 14

NO, Social rejection invalidates the law-making procedures

Question 15

What do Natural Law theory and Positivism have in common?

Answer 15

Both theories are based on notions of social acceptance