The Definitional Question

Law and Morality

In this course, Dr John Stanton-Ife (King’s College London) explores the relationship between law and morality. In the first module we explore the relationship between law and morality. In the second module, we look at legal positivism and natural law as theories which explain this relationship. In the third module, we investigate the issue of obedience, before turning to enforcement in the fourth module. In the fifth module, we discuss some challenges to the harm principle concerning moralism and offence.

The Definitional Question

In this module, we discuss how far morality enters into our definition of morality, focusing in particular on (i) the equation of law with morality, and problems with this view (ii) John Austin’s account of law based on sovereign power (iii) H.L.A Hart’s critique of Austin’s account.