JURISPRUDENCE

Question 1

What is jurisprudence?

Answer 1

Jurisprudence involves arguments about the nature of law

Question 2

Name three key questions in jurisprudence.

Answer 2

What is the nature of law, how do lawyers reason, and what is the relationship between law and morality

Question 3

What is stare decisis?

Answer 3

Stare decisis is the principle that a court is bound by decisions of a higher court

Question 4

What is ratio decidendi?

Answer 4

The ratio decidendi is the rationale or key reasoning that drives the final judgment in a case

Question 5

What is Wambaugh’s test used for?

Answer 5

Wambaugh’s test is an inversion test used to determine the ratio decidendi of a case

Question 6

According to the source, can generative AI help in determining ratio?

Answer 6

No, generative AI has no concept of truth or falsity and is not an aid in determining ratio

Question 7

What are two reasons for following precedent?

Answer 7

Consequentialist reasons, such as surety of decision-making, and formal justice reasons, such as treating people equally in similar circumstances

Question 8

What is formal logic?

Answer 8

Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences and how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure of arguments

Question 9

Why do American Realists believe logic alone is insufficient in law?

Answer 9

They believe logic alone cannot reliably extract the precedent from a case

Question 10

Name three American Realists mentioned in the text.

Answer 10

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Karl Llewellyn, and Jerome Frank

Question 11

What were American Realists interested in?

Answer 11

The practical issue of how a decision will be made

Question 12

What is ‘the hunch’ in the context of American Realism?

Answer 12

The hunch is the intuition about what is the right answer, which may come before the rule of law

Question 13

What did Jerome Frank think about the idea of objective answers in law?

Answer 13

Frank believed that there are no right or objective answers to any legal question

Question 14

According to the American Realists, what is ‘black letter law’?

Answer 14

They believe black letter law does not exist and is a delusion

Question 15

What is the ‘vibe’, according to the American Realists?

Answer 15

The ‘vibe’ is an intuitive reaction to a case that is different between legal professionals and the general public

Question 16

According to the American Realists, does law direct a ‘correct’ answer to legal questions?

Answer 16

No, they believe law cannot direct a ‘correct’ answer, and legal argument is used to back up a ‘hunch’

Question 17

Who argued that there are ‘right’ legal answers to legal questions?

Answer 17

Dworkin argued that there is a right answer to every legal question

Question 18

What did Hart attempt to do in his 1961 book ‘The Concept of Law’?

Answer 18

Hart attempted to build on the work done by legal positivists and solve deficiencies in their theories

Question 19

What is Hart’s theory of law?

Answer 19

Hart’s theory is that law is a body of rules that can be arrived at by application of human reason

Question 20

What is Bentham’s view of law?

Answer 20

Bentham believed laws are simply commands of a sovereign, backed by a sanction

Question 21

What is a sovereign, according to Bentham?

Answer 21

A sovereign is a body that can enjoy regular obedience

Question 22

What is legal positivism?

Answer 22

Legal positivism is the idea that a law could be invalid because it violates natural law and is a conceptual confusion

Question 23

What are primary and secondary rules in Hart’s model of law?

Answer 23

Primary rules are rules of behavior, and secondary rules are rules about rules

Question 24

What is Hart’s rule of recognition?

Answer 24

It is an assumption members of a community make about what constitutes law in a particular country

Question 25

What does Hart say about the language of law?

Answer 25

Law is expressed in natural language, which comes with ambiguity and uncertainty

Question 26

What is the 'penumbra of uncertainty' according to Hart?

Answer 26

The unavoidable problem of law that exists because of the ambiguity of language

Question 27

What kind of moral philosopher is Dworkin?

Answer 27

Dworkin is a non-consequentialist

Question 28

What are the two types of moral theories mentioned?

Answer 28

Consequentialist and non-consequentialist

Question 29

What is virtue ethics?

Answer 29

Virtue ethics is the idea that the right thing to do is governed by what a virtuous person would do

Question 30

What is the difference between objectivist and subjectivist views of morality?

Answer 30

Objectivists believe moral claims describe something that is mind-independent, while subjectivists believe morals are based on personal tastes and opinions

Question 31

What does Dworkin mean by saying there is a right answer to every legal question?

Answer 31

Dworkin means that for every legal issue, there is a correct legal outcome; there are no gaps or grey areas in the law

Question 32

What is the significance of the Al-Kateb case in relation to Dworkin's theory?

Answer 32

It is an example used to show that we can criticize judgments as being wrong, which implies an underlying concept of legal truth

Question 33

What are principles, according to Dworkin?

Answer 33

Principles are like maxims of equity or moral principles that help us understand legal rules

Question 34

Who is Judge Hercules in Dworkin’s theory?

Answer 34

Judge Hercules is a hypothetical judge of infinite intelligence who can formulate a theory about any law and maximize consistency

Question 35

According to Shapiro, what are the two modes of law?

Answer 35

Everyday mode and litigation mode, and Dworkin is primarily discussing the theoretical litigation mode

Question 36

What is truth conditional semantics?

Answer 36

A theory that captures some of the public aspects of meaning and how language describes or represents the world but language is also intentional

Question 37

According to Grice, what is the relationship between meaning and intention?

Answer 37

The meaning of a sentence is associated with the intentions of a speaker

Question 38

What are two types of meaning, according to Grice?

Answer 38

Utterer's meaning and dictionary meaning

Question 39

According to the source, does AI have intentions?

Answer 39

No, the source notes that AI has no intention or duty to the truth

Question 40

What is originalism in constitutional interpretation?

Answer 40

Originalism bases the meaning of a constitutional provision on how the public at the time of ratification would have understood it

Question 41

What is textualism?

Answer 41

Textualism is the approach of using literal or dictionary meaning to interpret a legal text

Question 42

What does Scalia say about the meaning of the constitution?

Answer 42

The meaning is the meaning given to the words by the normal canons of language use at the time it was drafted

Question 43

What is Dworkin's approach to interpreting the Constitution?

Answer 43

The meaning is the one which is the best possible interpretation of the Constitution

Question 44

What does Stanley Fish say about literal meaning?

Answer 44

He argues there is no such thing as literal meaning that is read off the face of a document without interpretation

Question 45

What is the social contract theory?

Answer 45

The idea that people live together in society in accordance with an agreement that establishes moral and political rules

Question 46

What is Rawls’s concept of the ‘original position’?

Answer 46

A hypothetical situation where one is behind a ‘veil of ignorance’ about their place in society

Question 47

What are the two elements to social contract theory?

Answer 47

A description of an 'initial situation' and a description of the contractors as rational and self-interested

Question 48

What is Nozick's concept of self-ownership?

Answer 48

The idea that each person owns their own body, abilities, and talents

Question 49

What is the difference between Locke's common view and Nozick's critical view on property acquisition?

Answer 49

Locke (common view) argues that mixing labor with unowned things creates ownership, whereas Nozick views property through a workmanship model

Question 50

What is the maximin principle, according to Rawls?

Answer 50

The principle of choosing a system where the worst-off person is in the best possible position