Nature Of Law

Question 1

Different Types of Justice

Answer 1

Substantive Justice
Procedural Justice
Distributive Justice
Corrective Justice

Question 2

Substantive Justice

Answer 2

How the rules work in various aspects of law, criminal, contract, tort etc

Question 3

Procedural Justice

Answer 3

The idea of fairness in the processes that resolve disputes and allocate resources

Question 4

Distributive Justice

Answer 4

Concern the nature of a social allocation of goods

Question 5

Corrective Justice

Answer 5

This looks at how problems within the system or laws can be corrected

Question 6

Legal Philosophers on Justice

Answer 6

Plato: justice is an overarching virtue
Aristotle: need to balance the extremes and have proportionality
St. Thomas Aquinas: justice should govern our relationship with eachother

Question 7

Aristotle on distributive justice

Answer 7

Says that a just state will award wealth based on their merit, virtue and what each person puts into society

Question 8

Aquinas on distributive justice

Answer 8

Argued that rewards should be distributed according to merit, rank and need

Question 9

Chaim Perelman on distributive justice

Answer 9

Put forward the view in his writing ‘De la Justice’ to each according to his merits, needs, works, rank, legal enlightenment and finally to each equally

Question 10

Jeremy Bentham and Utilitarianism

Answer 10

The more an action increases the overall happiness the more valuable it is. More interested in the consequence the action itself is irrelevant. An example of this can be seen in the Investigatory Powers Act 2016.

Question 11

John Stuart Mill and Utilitarianism

Answer 11

Similar to his ideas about Bentham however believed in qualitative utilitarianism. Developed the harm principle which states everyone is free to do a they wish as long as they do no harm anybody. He also said punishment should only ever be inflicted where it brings a benefit such as public order.

Question 12

Social Justice

Answer 12

Social Justice is the equal access to wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society

Question 13

John Rawls on social justice

Answer 13

Was a 20th century sociologist which argued that the 2 basic principles of justice should mean that;
1. Each person has the right to all freedoms and liberties
2. Social and economic inequalities may exists but holy where they benefit the least advantaged in society

Question 14

Robert Nozick

Answer 14

Robert Nozick whilst believing that the individual should be protected against fraud, theft, force or enforcing of contractual obligations placed no limits on property ownership. He believed that the individual, rather than the state should own property

Question 15

To what extent doe the law achieve justice

Answer 15

Assuming everyone has the right to access justice and get a fair hearing, this means that in theory those who cannot afford it should get legal access

Problem: LASPO resulted in massive budget cuts on legal aid, if found guilty may have to pay legal costs and there is very little incentive for legal aid lawyers

Question 16

What is a society

Answer 16

Society is a group of people with comment territory, interaction and culture

-Members of a society to not necessary have to share every aspect of culture and may even exist as separate societies within the same country aka pluralism

Question 17

What is pluralism

Answer 17

A pluralist society is one in which there are many different cultures and traditions that all co-exist

-Pluralism allows members of minority groups to maintain their own independent culture traditions

Question 18

What role does law play in society

Answer 18

The law exists in society to protect people from harm, to ensure a common good, to settle disputes and to persuade people to do the right thing

-Law can also shape society and society shapes the law eg Dangerous Dogs Act

Question 19

Law as a social control

Answer 19

Social control is the way in which our behaviour, thoughts and appearance i regulated by the rules, norms, laws and social structures in our society

Question 20

Roscoe Pound on the law as social control

Answer 20

Identified the basic principles social/ethical have a three fold purpose
-To identify and explain human claims, demands or interests of social order
-To express what the majority want the law to do
-To guide the courts in applying the law

Question 21

Social control through civil and criminal law

Answer 21

The balance between the need for householders to protect themselves from intruders and the use of justifiable force

-Consent is an example of social control. Judges have different views depending on the circumstances eg R v. Brown

Question 22

Social control in contract and the law of tort

Answer 22

In contract, law controls the ways in which sectors of society can impose their will and profit from others through legislation like the Consumer Rights Act 2015

In tort the question of social control is addressed in finding an appropriate balance between the rights of the claimant and the defendant eg Bolton v. Stone

Question 23

Consensus Theory

Answer 23

In order to achieve a fairer social systems, there needs to be cooperation and compromise

Question 24

Conflict Theory

Answer 24

Where 2 or more groups have different views and demands it is important to find a middle ground which tends to all the groups in conflict

Question 25

Labelling Theory

Answer 25

Most people commit criminal or deviant acts but only som are caught and punished