Legal disagreements and the dual nature of law

Andrea Dolcetti, Giovanni Battista Ratti

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

This chapter tests the hypothesis that the presence of specific kinds of disagreements in most contemporary legal systems — those that we call interpretative disagreements — is a characteristic feature of law. It considers whether disagreements about the interpretation of sources of law would not simply be compatible with, but indeed presuppose, an agreement on the identification of those sources. To verify the hypothesis it discusses, in light of a refined taxonomy of legal disagreements, how the ambiguities in Dworkin's reconstruction of legal disagreements may affect his critique of Hart's legal positivism. It also investigates the relevance of the notion of legal disagreements for general jurisprudence. On the basis of the linguistic character of legal norms, the chapter maintains that interpretative (meaning-content) disagreements and institutional (source-based) agreement are related in such a way that it makes sense to talk of a ‘dual nature’ of law.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationPhilosophical foundations of the nature of law
EditorsWil Waluchow, Stefan Sciaraffa
Place of PublicationOxford, UK
PublisherOxford University Press
Pages301-321
Number of pages21
ISBN (Electronic)9780191757280
ISBN (Print)9780199675517
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013
Externally publishedYes

Publication series

NamePhilosophical Foundations of Law
PublisherOxford University Press

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