Study On Hart's Legal Minds

Hart, the most famous representative of Analytical Positivism Jurisprudence, made a clear distinction between "practical law" and "proper law ". He insisted there is no inexorable connection between laws and morals. Around these two terms, he made a long debate against Dworkin who is the most outstanding figure of natural jurists. Adopting and absorbing in some ideas of his opponent, he further improved and developed Analytical Jurisprudence and did lasting and constructive contribution to it and even the whole western legal philosophy. Hart's legal minds, developing and maturing in the process of debate, absorbed in masses of useful ideas, broad and profound, flying its own colors. His outstanding book entitled Conceptions of Law, which is classified as a classical legal work of the twentieth century. We may say Hart's legal minds converged all brilliant ideas on modern western legal philosophy of the twentieth century and it cannot go too far to classify western legal philosophy of the twentieth as "Hart's times". For making a thorough study on Hart's legal minds, this passage tries to expound from the following four aspects:Part I : Analyses on the sources from which Hart's minds on Analytical Positivismoriginated. On the basis of following the minds of Hume, Hobbes,Locke,Bentham. Hart introduced daily linguistic philosophy into jurisprudence with the beginning of criticizing Austin's idea "law as order". He differentiates some essential conceptions such as rules and habits, legal duties and moral ones and so on in consequence of forming an enormous legal system which is characteristic of "rule" with "rule of recognition" as its fundamental basis.Part II: Debate on the relationship of law and morality between Hart and Dworkin. With the trial as a juncture which taking place in Nuremberg in the 20th century, they start out their arguments under the setting of revival of Natural Law and prosperity of Analytical Positivism Jurisprudence. Hart severely criticized two kinds of extreme rulepatterns ormalism and skepticism with his own theory of rules as standard. He developed that legal interpreting principle was combined with "meaning concentration" and "open texture"; Dworkin strongly refuted Hart's theory. He thought that law consists of rules, principles and policies and he expounded his elaborating and integrated legal interpretation theory.Part III: Comments on Hart's legal minds on the basis of the debate. Hart put forward the famous proposition "minimum content of natural law" which marked a significant concession to the latter. And his thought on "internal view "achieved the original link to sociology. Following and surpassing Hart's study of paradigm, Dworkin advanced his idea on "internal participant". Compared with him, Hart was skilled in analysis and he introduced common linguistic philosophy into jurisprudent field in the consequences of transformation and new realm of legal research.Part IV: Deep impact of the debate on western and eastern legal philosophy. It leads to tripartite confrontation of Natural Law Analytical Positivism Jurisprudence and Sociology in the west. It's also the juncture from which latter modern jurisprudence originated. In addition, it can be endowed with enlightenment to Chinese legal philosophy and development of ruling by law guided by it.