What is Law: Vocab

Question 1

Sovereign

Answer 1

A person or institution habitually obeyed in a well-defined territory, but who or which does not habitually obey any other person or institution.

Question 2

Legal positivism

Answer 2

The idea that a rule is a law if, and only if, the rule is the command of the sovereign to its subjects and if the failure to follow that rule is backed up by the threat of punishment. Associated with John Austin and Jeremy Bentham.

Question 3

The Rule of Recognition

Answer 3

A social rule that specifies what counts as a law and what does not. Associated with HLA Hart. Hart used the Rule of Recognition to replace the idea of the “sovereign” in his formulation of legal positivism.

Question 4

Natural Law

Answer 4

An opposing picture to legal positivism of the nature of law. This view is committed to the idea that law has a moral core, that moral facts determine legal content.

Question 5

Liability

Answer 5

Legal responsibility. Someone is liable for a harm suffered by a party when he or she is legally and financially responsible for that harm.