Narrow concepts of legal validity fail to prevent official abuse of power
Evidence
What surely is most needed in order to make men clear-sighted in confronting the official abuse of power, is that they should preserve the sense that the certification of something as legally valid is not conclusive of the question of obedience, and that, however great the aura of majesty or authority which the official system may have, its demands must in the end be submitted to a moral scrutiny. — HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (Clarendon Law…, 502
Categorization
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (Clarendon Law…, 502
- XREF: connects to: Legal rules resting only on past authority deserve condemnation when their rationale has lapsed — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 1067; Legal systems rest on customary social rules rather than moral foundations — HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (Clarendon Law…, 56; Reductionist legal theories obscure the diverse functions of rules within a social system — HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (Clarendon Law…, 649 (+21 more)
Broader Connections
- An ultimate power to decide generates its own norms and cannot be trusted
#corroborates(0.82) - Legal systems rest on customary social rules rather than moral foundations
#expands(0.80) — HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (Clarendon Law…, 56 - Reductionist legal theories obscure the diverse functions of rules within a social system
#expands(0.75) — HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (Clarendon Law…, 649 - Legal rules resting only on past authority deserve condemnation when their rationale has lapsed
#complicates(0.70) — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 1067