Understanding Legal Prescriptive Rules and Standards
Understanding Prescriptive Rules and Legal Standards
Prescriptive rules are rules that set certain conduct legal standards. Legal standards are requirements that are central to the legal order.
The elements of the requirements are:
The Character
The character of a standard depends on whether the standard is set so that something may, must be, or must be done. There are a number of operators called deontic operators that exemplify the character of the norm. These include:
- Obligation (O)
- Permission (P)
- Power (P)
- Prohibitions
- Do not do (F)
The Content
The content is a condition between a case and a solution. We can distinguish between two types of rules:
- Rules that have to do with action, rules concerning the action.
- Rules concerning activities.
Actions can be positive or negative, depending on whether the change is due to an active intervention of the agent or an abstention. While actions are related to events, with the changes, the activities are related processes. The processes are something that extends in a continuous manner over a substantial period of time. The action takes place at a particular time. The activities are not very important for the rules because the rules that relate to activities can be reduced to rules that concern actions.
The Condition of Application
The rules can be subdivided into:
Hypothetical
These are rules that, apart from the conditions of application, allow an opportunity for the creation of content, provided additional conditions are inferred and not the content. For example, if anyone closes the window.
Categorical
These are the only conditions to assume that we have the opportunity to make its content. The conditions arising from their content. For example, close the window.
The Authority
By authority of a rule, we mean the agent issuing the prescription, is the authority which orders, permits, or prohibits certain taxable something. According to this element standards can be classified into:
- Standards theonomists and positive. They are considering rules under which the agent’s authority which emanates, is an agent above empirical. Positive if they are rules made by a human authority.
- Standards heteronomous and autonomous. The heteronomous are the rules that an agent gives to another agent. The autonomous are those rules that a subject gives himself. They are autonomous regulatory authority when subject and match.
The first three elements constitute the normative core; the following three are the elements of the requirements.
Subject to the Requirements
They are the agents that are targeted in the prescription, and also based on the subject we can establish a classification. We can speak of rules or requirements:
- Individuals: When the prescription is directed to one or more specific agents.
- General: When directed to an indeterminate class of agents through a description. When a rule is addressed to doctors, lawyers…
- Overall package: Are those whose subject which is targeted to the whole, to an entire class perfectly identified. Eg., Everyone in this class should leave.
- General disjunctively: When directed at an individual or an entire class. Eg. some of which are in the building must be abandoned.
The Time of Prescription
It refers to an element in space and time, which requirement must be satisfied. (Tomorrow library must be closed, smoking is prohibited in elevators). The requirements can be described as:
- Individuals: When setting a particular occasion. (Cinemas should be closed to 1)
- General; together: When you refer mention a class of situations all of which can or should always be the content of the prescription. (every night at 21 should close the windows) and disjunctive. When your content should be done in any case of situations or occasions. (You can go to the Bible any day of the month)
The Promulgation
It is the formulation of the prescription, which is the expression of the prescription through a system of symbols whose objective is that the recipient knows that requirement.
The Penalty
It is the threat of harm to the regulatory authority can add to the prescription in case of breach.