THIS PAPER IS NOT TO BE REMOVED FROM THE EXAMINATION HALLS

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON LA3005 October

DIPLOMA IN THE COMMON LAW

LLB
BSc DEGREES WITH LAW

Jurisprudence and legal theory

Thursday 20 October 2016: 14.30 – 17.45

Candidates will have THREE HOURS AND FIFTEEN MINUTES in which to

answer the questions.

Candidates should answer ONE question from SECTION A (The Set Book)
and THREE questions from SECTION B of the following TWELVE questions.

Candidates should answer all parts of a question unless otherwise stated.

Permitted materials
None.

© University of London 2016

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SECTION A (The Set Book)

1. ‘Hart failed to give a complete account of the legal system, because he

chose to approach the question of what law is in a descriptive fashion
and from a neutral standpoint.’

Discuss.

2. ‘Just as it is impossible to give a neutral account of concepts such as

justice or freedom, so is it impossible to give a neutral account of law.’

Discuss.

3. ‘The only thing Hart said regarding the grounds of the obligation to
follow the law is that law’s subjects regard law as binding. As a result,
his account of legal obligation seems very similar to Austin’s view that
people are under an obligation to follow the law because of the fear of
sanctions, a view which Hart explicitly rejected.’

Discuss.

SECTION B

4. ‘Recent work defending the central place of coercion in law (by

Schauer) vindicates Austin’s theory of law. We cannot build a theory of
law as if it wasn’t coercive.’

Discuss.

5. Critically discuss Kelsen’s idea that the Basic Norm of the legal system
is a transcendental presupposition.

6. ‘According to Raz, authoritative directives are legitimate to the extent

that they require us to act on reasons, which apply to us anyway. But,
in order for us to know whether this is the case, we must examine
these first-order reasons. This defeats the purpose of having
authoritative directives in the first place.’

Discuss.

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7. ‘Fuller argued that when there is manifest failure to meet at least one of
the eight requirements of the Rule of Law, there is no law at all. This,
however, is not morally demanding enough, because it is merely
formal. It therefore fails to discount too many possible evil regimes.’

8. ‘Dworkin’s chain novel metaphor illustrates the weakness of his theory,

for it implies that the first author is unconstrained and entirely free. This
is to forget how all judges are always constrained, e.g. by their social
upbringing.’

Discuss.

9. ‘The natural law tradition is no longer relevant today. Contemporary

society is simply too heterogeneous.’

Discuss.

10. ‘[T]he economic relation of exchange must be present for the legal
relation of contracts and purchase to be able to arise. Political power
can, with the aid of laws, regulate, alter, condition and concretise the
form and content of this legal transaction in the most diverse manner.
The law can determine in great detail what may be bought and sold,
how, under what conditions and by whom.’ (Pashukanis).

Discuss.

11. ‘Liberal feminism tends to adopt an individualist model of human

beings, a model which many radical, socialist, and postmodern
feminists have found deeply problematic.’ (Margaret Davies).

Discuss.

12. In your view, what are the biggest challenges that legal theory faces in
our times?

END OF PAPER

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