An Interpretation Of Dworkin's Principle Theory

The question of "what is the law" can possibly being called as "the Gold Bach's conjecture" in the law field, which caused innumerable legal scholars and schools of thoughts studied diligently for centuries, without tracking down or stop.As the most outstanding representative of law positivism, Hart had developed and consummated Austin's theory, formulated "the rule of recognition" as a standard which was used to examine the other rule's validity. In his theory, law is a rules system. But Dworkin published a series of books in which he against Hart's viewpoint and proposed his own theory, which initiated a great debate in the law field.Generally speaking, Dworkin's "principle theory" can be seen as the middle axle of his ideology. According to this theory, the law consists of not only rules but also principles and policies. He elaborated the "law as interpretation" theory and introduced the "integrity" thought, with protecting the human rights as an ultimate objective.In this article, I will make an interpretation of Dworkin's "principle theory" and attempt to explain "what the law is" in Dworkin's point of view, through the following five parts.In the introduction part, an outline of Dworkin's whole theory system will be given in order to present his "principle theory", as well as the significance and research methods of this dissertation. Part one makes efforts to present a whole explanation of the "principle theory". First of all, it takes Dworkin's rebut on positivism's rule theory as an turning point, explains how the principles are used in the process of deciding two "hard cases" ; Next, it elaborates the difficulties and inherent contradictions in the rules theory, thus giving the justification for principles being the part of law. Finally, it proposed a "implicit law" theory to prove the existence of principles. In part two, I will discuss the "principle theory" within the entire theory system of Dworkin, explain in details the relationship between these theories: First with the "principle theory" and "law as interpretation". Second with the "principle theory" and the Constitutional theory. Third with the "principle theory" and the right thesis. Fourth with the "principle theory" and the integrity principle. Through the analysis of these relationships, we may see clearly that the "principle theory" plays such an importaht role in Dworkin's entire legal theory system. The third part mainly interprets the foundation of the "principle theory", which lies in two basic principles of human dignity. The fourth part raises the questions against the "principle theory" and the issues that has not been resolved yet, and makes an overall appraisal on this theory.