Understanding Law: Standards, Rights, and Legitimacy
The Essence of Legal Standards
The legal “standards” set forth by a state are designed to maintain order, regulate social interactions, and resolve conflicts. These rules define acceptable behavior and ensure a degree of predictability within society.
The law establishes limits, ensuring individual actions align with societal norms. While customs and ethical conduct influence social behavior, the state’s legal framework provides a formal structure. However, historical examples, such as the Nazi regime, demonstrate that legally established rules can be unjust.
Institutions strive to ensure legal frameworks are fair and just. The police and judicial systems play crucial roles in upholding these principles.
Key Characteristics of Legal Rules
- Universality: Applicable to everyone in society without bias.
- Imperative: Mandatory, either prescribing or prohibiting actions.
- Inviolable: Violations result in penalties.
- Coercive: Enforcement is backed by the threat of punishment.
- Public: Must be publicly known to be valid.
- Non-Retroactive: Generally, laws apply only to actions taken after their enactment.
Objective vs. Subjective Law
- Objective Law (Positive Law): The set of written rules and regulations governing behavior within a state or territory.
- Subjective Law: The rights and guarantees afforded to citizens, ensuring their safety and dignity.
Democratic states have an obligation to protect the inviolability of fundamental human rights. Individuals can demand respect for these rights, empowering them within the legal system.
The Foundation of Law: Human Rights
Where do human rights originate? Are they a creation of human invention or divinely inspired?
Natural Law
Natural law is an ancient concept asserting that basic rights derive from the inherent order of nature. These rights are not created but are intrinsic to human existence. They are universal, pre-existing society, and inalienable.
Positive law, the written laws of a country, should reflect these natural rights. The closer positive law aligns with natural law, the fairer it is considered. Laws that contradict natural law are deemed unjust.
Greek and Roman Natural Law:
- Plato: Justice as an ideal.
- Aristotle: Distinction between legal justice and natural justice.
Christian Natural Law:
- St. Augustine: Eternal laws imprinted by God on the human soul.
Rationalist Natural Law: Emphasizes reason as the source of natural law.
Legal Positivism
Legal positivism asserts that the only valid laws are those established by human authority. It rejects the notion of inherent natural rights and focuses solely on the laws enacted by a legislator.
Legal positivists do not distinguish between positive and natural law, viewing law as a product of social relations rather than an inherent aspect of nature. All rules emanating from the state are considered part of the legal system, regardless of their perceived justice.
Legality and Legitimacy
Legal rules are tailored to specific countries and are ideally regulated by a concept of justice that prevents and resolves conflicts, safeguarding peace. However, legality alone does not guarantee legitimacy.
Legality refers to the existence of a set of rules governing a society. However, if the legal framework is unfair and promotes inequality, it lacks legitimacy. Totalitarian states often have unjust laws that violate fundamental rights.
Even when acting within the bounds of the law, individuals are responsible for their actions and cannot commit injustices. The Nuremberg Trials of Nazi officials illustrate this principle.
The Klaus Barbie Case
Klaus Barbie, a Nazi official, used the laws of his time to justify killing many people. Despite acting within the legal framework, he committed grave injustices and was ultimately tried and sentenced to life imprisonment. This case demonstrates that unjust laws cannot shield criminals from accountability. Individuals are always responsible for their actions, regardless of the laws in place.