HLA Harts's Concept of Law

According to Hart, there is a special connection between norms of justice, legal obligations, and moral obligations. These connections are important, but distinguishing between these aspects of a legal system is equally important.

Norms of justice do not actually relate to laws themselves, but are actually concerned with the application of these laws in certain cases. According to Hart, the special connection with which the notion of justice has in relation to the law is that justice answers questions of what is “just”, and what is “unjust”. He informs us that it is possible to commit a horrible crime, such as murder, but this does not necessarily mean that the crime committed was an act of injustice. Only if the crime that was committed was inflicted in a “fair”, or “unfair” way, would that crime be seen in terms of justice.

Justice within the law is not only seen in criminal cases, but in many other aspects of the law as well. Legal questions which would be relevant when judged in terms of justice include; prejudice of a person or group based primarily on arbitrary external qualities such as race, color, or ethnicity; or unequal distribution of taxes or

Using the wide concept of the law would allow for the study of and public reaction to the use of wicked or wrong laws. Under the narrow concept of the law this could possibly allow for the obedience towards wicked laws created by wicked people. In order for any one to obey the command of authority, and the validity of its laws, it must carefully evaluate the morality of the rules, which are to be obeyed. It would be much easier for an individual to recognize wicked laws when he or she is accustomed to thinking that, yes it is possible for valid laws to be too wicked to obey. On the other hand members of society which perceive laws in the narrower sense would be unable to accept the fact that it is not possible for wicked law to become law, therefore possible obeying wicked laws unintentionally.

The wide concept of law includes the narrow, in that allowing the legislation of a law which passes all the tests of a system of primary and secondary rules is considered law. Including the narrow concept, which states that wicked laws are not law at all, would allow us to exclude any and all laws which can be considered wicked, and therefore invalid.

The obligation of justice towards the law is simply that, being that human beings are essentially equal, everyone should be treated alike. When confronted with any legal case, justice demands to “treat like cases alike, and different cases differently”, without prejudice. Hart explains that the idea of justice is established by the moral conviction that everyone is entitled to be treated equally. Within the morality of every social group lies this basic sense of equality, in order to “offset the inequalities of nature” (CL 165). Hart admits, that although this “social morality” towards equality is prevalent in society, it is rarely seen that in these societies all individuals are actually being treated equally.

Justice is only a small segment of morality, and is concerned with the way that certain groups or classes are treated. Another aspect of morality is individual moral obligation. The morality of any given society generates principles, rules, and standards of behavior, which regulate human conduct, and makes that conduct morally obligatory. Just as morality can effect human behavior, so to can legal obligations. Hart explains that the connection between moral and legal obligations are similar in a number of ways. Both obligations are conceived as obligating only by individual consent, there is a serious social pressure to conform, and following these rules is seen as a basic part of their social life. Laws and morals also regulate individual behavior in all aspects of every day life, and these rules must be satisfied by any social group, in order to succeed as a society.

Limited Altruisms: The human race is neither a barbarous race set out only to kill each other, neither are we saints where harm to other would be impossible. As it is we are somewhere between these two extremes. It is definitely true that chances of aggression are serious enough today that if not controlled would threaten social life. For this reason all of mankind would benefit from a need to cooperate in order to achieve man’s will to survive.

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