Introduction
Lecture 1
Absolute rights and relative rights
- Absolute right: right that can be exercised against all others. (e.g. property right)
- Relative rights: right that can only be exercised against one or more determined persons (e.g.
loan)
Objective and subjective rights
- The law (objective)
- my right (subjective) – e.g. privacy
Purposes and functions of the law
The law consists of norms regulating human behaviour and rules that organise the state.
So law organizes the state and the state organizes the law: the law, indirectly, organizes itself.
- establishing standards
- maintaining order
- resolving disputes
- protecting liberties and rights
The law provides a formal means for resolving disputes—the court system.
- Judicial function: adjudicates disputes, deciding how a disagreement should be settled.
- Legislative function: determine the rules that will govern the process of adjudication.
Legislation tells judicial function how to adjudicate.
- Executive function: ensure, first, that the disputing parties submit to adjudication in the first
place, and second, that they actually comply with the settlement eventually reached through
the judicial process.
Legal systems and traditions
Legal system: an operating set of legal institutions, procedures and rules.
Two legal traditions: Civil Law and Common Law
In extremes:
“Civil law gaat uit van de gedachte dat het recht geschreven is en kan worden toegepast, behoudens
uitzonderingen die door rechtsbeginselen of de wet zelf zijn erkend. Persoonlijke omstandigheden
(zoals redelijkheid en billijkheid) bieden slechts uitsluitsel voor zover de wet die ook toestaat. De
rechtspraak vult deze wetten aan voor zover nodig en mogelijk, maar dient met name de wet te
interpreteren en toe te passen, niet zelf in de zaak te voorzien (en dus in feite wetgever te worden).
Common law daarentegen gaat juist van het (ongeschreven) gewoonterecht uit dat door de
rechtspraak wordt erkend en toegepast. De rechter kan recht ‘erkennen’ (maken) als dat er nog niet is
(in tegenstelling tot civil law). Het beginsel van stare decisis (precedentwerking) zorgt er dan voor dat
1
,het recht uit eenmaal beoordeelde geschillen ook in toekomstige zaken worden toegepast en
daarmee geldend recht wordt. Geschreven recht wordt natuurlijk door de rechter meegenomen
(i.v.m. zijn positie in de trias politica) maar wordt altijd naast common law (in de zin van rechtspraak)
geplaatst.”
Principles and rules
Principles are at a higher level of abstraction then rules. They form the background of legal rules and
can be used to interpret, to complete or to correct legal rules. (See Ch.3 about R Dworkin)
Are all rules legal rules?
- E=mc2 (It says that the energy (E) in a system (an atom, a person, the solar system) is equal
to its total mass (m) multiplied by the square of the speed of light (c, equal to 186,000 miles
per second).
- The bishop may move as far as it wants, but only diagonally.
- It is not allowed to bring food and drinks into the lecture room.
Legal rules: Judge made (in verdict) or by legislator (in codes)
Who has the authority to make rules? (See what is said about HLA Hart in Ch. 2)
Sources
- Statutes / Acts
o Constitution: e.g. Privacy and Non discrimination
o Act of Parliament
o Delegated acts
- Customary rules
o Custom and principles:
"evidence of a general practice accepted as law."
- Judicial Decisions
- Treaties and binding decisions of international organisations.
Lecture 2
Legal domains
- Private Law
- Public Law
- Criminal Law
Different actors in different legal domains
E.g., Public prosecutor
Different roles of same actor in different legal domains
E.g., active or passive role of a judge
Interpretation methods
- Grammatical / linguistic interpretation: literal meaning.
- Historical interpretation: using the legislative history, to reveal the intent of the legislator.
- Systematic interpretation: considering the broader context of the legal framework in which a
provision is listed.
2
, - Teleological interpretation: focus on the purpose of the law
Argumentation
Judge must provide argumentation of the verdict:
- Legal equality
- Legal certainty
Argumentation theory, or argumentation, is the interdisciplinary study of how conclusions can be
reached through logical reasoning; that is, claims based, soundly or not, on premises. It includes the
arts and sciences of civil debate, dialogue, conversation, and persuasion. It studies rules of inference,
logic, and procedural rules in both artificial and real world settings.
Stephan Toulmin
Law vs Regulation
“Regulation is the promulgation of rules by government accompanied by mechanisms of monitoring
and enforcement”.
“The sustained and focused attempt to alter the behaviour of others according to standards or goals
with the intention of producing a broadly identified outcome or outcomes, which may involve
mechanisms of standard-setting, information-gathering and behaviour-modification”.
How can we change behaviour?
• Lessig: Four modalities of regulation
3
Lecture 1
Absolute rights and relative rights
- Absolute right: right that can be exercised against all others. (e.g. property right)
- Relative rights: right that can only be exercised against one or more determined persons (e.g.
loan)
Objective and subjective rights
- The law (objective)
- my right (subjective) – e.g. privacy
Purposes and functions of the law
The law consists of norms regulating human behaviour and rules that organise the state.
So law organizes the state and the state organizes the law: the law, indirectly, organizes itself.
- establishing standards
- maintaining order
- resolving disputes
- protecting liberties and rights
The law provides a formal means for resolving disputes—the court system.
- Judicial function: adjudicates disputes, deciding how a disagreement should be settled.
- Legislative function: determine the rules that will govern the process of adjudication.
Legislation tells judicial function how to adjudicate.
- Executive function: ensure, first, that the disputing parties submit to adjudication in the first
place, and second, that they actually comply with the settlement eventually reached through
the judicial process.
Legal systems and traditions
Legal system: an operating set of legal institutions, procedures and rules.
Two legal traditions: Civil Law and Common Law
In extremes:
“Civil law gaat uit van de gedachte dat het recht geschreven is en kan worden toegepast, behoudens
uitzonderingen die door rechtsbeginselen of de wet zelf zijn erkend. Persoonlijke omstandigheden
(zoals redelijkheid en billijkheid) bieden slechts uitsluitsel voor zover de wet die ook toestaat. De
rechtspraak vult deze wetten aan voor zover nodig en mogelijk, maar dient met name de wet te
interpreteren en toe te passen, niet zelf in de zaak te voorzien (en dus in feite wetgever te worden).
Common law daarentegen gaat juist van het (ongeschreven) gewoonterecht uit dat door de
rechtspraak wordt erkend en toegepast. De rechter kan recht ‘erkennen’ (maken) als dat er nog niet is
(in tegenstelling tot civil law). Het beginsel van stare decisis (precedentwerking) zorgt er dan voor dat
1
,het recht uit eenmaal beoordeelde geschillen ook in toekomstige zaken worden toegepast en
daarmee geldend recht wordt. Geschreven recht wordt natuurlijk door de rechter meegenomen
(i.v.m. zijn positie in de trias politica) maar wordt altijd naast common law (in de zin van rechtspraak)
geplaatst.”
Principles and rules
Principles are at a higher level of abstraction then rules. They form the background of legal rules and
can be used to interpret, to complete or to correct legal rules. (See Ch.3 about R Dworkin)
Are all rules legal rules?
- E=mc2 (It says that the energy (E) in a system (an atom, a person, the solar system) is equal
to its total mass (m) multiplied by the square of the speed of light (c, equal to 186,000 miles
per second).
- The bishop may move as far as it wants, but only diagonally.
- It is not allowed to bring food and drinks into the lecture room.
Legal rules: Judge made (in verdict) or by legislator (in codes)
Who has the authority to make rules? (See what is said about HLA Hart in Ch. 2)
Sources
- Statutes / Acts
o Constitution: e.g. Privacy and Non discrimination
o Act of Parliament
o Delegated acts
- Customary rules
o Custom and principles:
"evidence of a general practice accepted as law."
- Judicial Decisions
- Treaties and binding decisions of international organisations.
Lecture 2
Legal domains
- Private Law
- Public Law
- Criminal Law
Different actors in different legal domains
E.g., Public prosecutor
Different roles of same actor in different legal domains
E.g., active or passive role of a judge
Interpretation methods
- Grammatical / linguistic interpretation: literal meaning.
- Historical interpretation: using the legislative history, to reveal the intent of the legislator.
- Systematic interpretation: considering the broader context of the legal framework in which a
provision is listed.
2
, - Teleological interpretation: focus on the purpose of the law
Argumentation
Judge must provide argumentation of the verdict:
- Legal equality
- Legal certainty
Argumentation theory, or argumentation, is the interdisciplinary study of how conclusions can be
reached through logical reasoning; that is, claims based, soundly or not, on premises. It includes the
arts and sciences of civil debate, dialogue, conversation, and persuasion. It studies rules of inference,
logic, and procedural rules in both artificial and real world settings.
Stephan Toulmin
Law vs Regulation
“Regulation is the promulgation of rules by government accompanied by mechanisms of monitoring
and enforcement”.
“The sustained and focused attempt to alter the behaviour of others according to standards or goals
with the intention of producing a broadly identified outcome or outcomes, which may involve
mechanisms of standard-setting, information-gathering and behaviour-modification”.
How can we change behaviour?
• Lessig: Four modalities of regulation
3
