Legal Theory

Table of Contents - September 2011 - Volume 17, Issue 03  

Research Article

RAZ ON THE INTERNAL POINT OF VIEW

Mark McBridea1*

a1 Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore markmcbride1978@gmail.com

Abstract

This article addresses the question of whether judges can take the internal point of view toward—accept—their legal system's rule of recognition for purely prudential reasons. It takes a fresh look at an underappreciated conceptual argument of Joseph Raz's that answers: no. In a nutshell, Raz argues that purely prudential reasons are reasons of the wrong kind for judges to accept their legal system's rule of recognition. And should Raz's argument succeed, an important necessary connection between law and morality would be established.

Footnotes

* Thanks to two Legal Theory referees for helpful comments.