Philosophy of Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Philosophy of Law - Essay ExampleWhat philosophy is, or should be, is itself a philosophical question that philosophers do understood and treated differently through the ages. (Wikipedia Philosophy p1). Philosophy can in like manner be defined as a doctrine a belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or school the rational investigation of questions about world and knowledge and ethics any personal belief about how to live or how to deal with a situation. (Princeton WordNet p1).The second of the above definitions lends itself to our thesis. Some group or school could be homogeneous to the legal profession doctrine could be analogous to the legality personal belief about how to live could be analogous to an individuals virtue, morality, and ethics and deal with a situation could be analogous to entranceway into a negotiable instrument such as a contract. This second definition mentions most of the issues that have given rise to a wide ranging concatena tion of philosophical treatise and thought concerning the philosophy behind and apply in the creation of a body of laws meant to guide the individual in their dealings both in rem and in persona.The philosophy of law could be said to trace its origins back before Plato and Aristotle realised what contemporary society defines as virtue ethics (Wikipedia Philosophy of Law p1). ... Some of these social contracts could believably even fit todays UCC definition as negotiable instruments (Yovel 7). Whether these early contracts fit the Uniform Commercial jurisprudence (UCC) is not the question. The question is whether engaging in the philosophy of law is more than just a amiable exercise. Hence we must first become familiar with what is currently thought of as the philosophy of law and then use some specific case examples to validate the premise that it has relevance and should not be disparaged. Wesley Newcomb Hohfelds analysis originally published as two articles in the Yale Law Jo urnal in 1913 and 1917 and argon ...now a standard part of legal thinking (Walker, Oxford Companion to Law 575) is a starting even out that appears to provide a reference plane from which we begin our familiarization with the philosophy of law. Hohfeld believed that philosophically, there were co-dependent and inter-related fundamental legal concepts. In his two papers he enumerated eight entities called jural correlates and jural opposites. Hohfeld maintains that legal analysis is frequently fuzzy and inconsistent because of an improper understanding of the fundamental legal conceptions. His stated goal is to catalogue and clarify these conceptions. He asserts that there are eight such entities right (claim), privilege (liberty), power, and exemption along with their respective correlates of duty, no-right (no-claim), liability, and disability. In addition, each fundamental conception is a jural opposite to another privilege (liberty), right (claim), power, and immunity are the r espective jural opposites of duty, no-right (no-claim), liability, and disability (OReilly p1).Can the