Law & Public Administration: Summaries and study notes of standard works and articles - Bundel

Summaries and study notes of standard works and articles about law and public administration

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Philosophy of Science: The origins of law: nature or science?

As a general proposition, laws are too diverse in order to classify them within a single universal definition. What can be certain is that searching for laws is one of the main goals of natural science. The laws of nature ascend from written law made by men. They are presumed precepts of society; dictates of public conscience and formulate a common consensus of morality. A salient question is whether the laws of nature originate naturally from the world or from some supernatural, divine force....

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Summaries of articles on law and rights

In stigmatizing an entire profession because of the behavior of a minority, or in engaging in similar attributions in other areas of decisionmaking, we undertake a process of generalization. “Painting with a broad brush,” the slightly pejorative expression puts it. To refer to the practice as stereotyping intensifies the condemnation, and these days to describe it as profiling condemns more strongly still. Yet regardless of the label the structure of the decision is the same. On the basis of a characteristic of some members of a class, we reach conclusions or make decisions about the entire class.Decisionmaking by generalization is the stock in trade of the insurance industry. To be an actuary is to be a specialist in generalization, and actuaries engage in a form of decisionmaking that is sometimes called actuarial. Actuaries guide insurance companies in making decisions about large categories that have the effect of attributing to the entire category certain characteristics that are probabilistically indicated by membership in the category, but that still may not be possessed by a particular member of the category. Occasionally the actuarial generalizations of the insurance industry become controversial (for example that gay men pay more for health insure because as a class they have a statistically greater likelihood of...

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Proportionality in constitutional law

Suppose you’re a Judge on a fictitious moral court. No precedents, no statutes, each case is decided on its moral merits only. Two neighbors come before you: Pete and Mike. Pete took Mike’s car without asking and didn’t return until the next evening. Mike wasn’t able to pick up his elderly mother at the lonely bus station. The mother had to be taken to the hospital with frostbite. Mike thinks Pete should at least apologize for his immoral behaviour. Pete is truly sorry, but he thinks he shouldn’t be morally blamed. What would you do as a Judge? Pete explains that he had to bring his pregnant wife, who’s water had broken, to the hospital. He couldn’t use his own car, because he needed a four-wheel drive car due to the heavy snow fall. He didn’t ask for Mike’s permission, because they often borrow eachother’s things without asking and he didn’t want te wake him up in the middle of the night. Mike tells you he had told Pete of his plans to pick up his mother the next morning. Pete is sorry, but he knew that someone would drive by and help the old lady. His wife’s situation was a matter of life and death. The hospital confirms this. Also, Pete’s mother has recoverded fast and well. This asks for a proportionality analysis. Pete’s action was legitimate, necessary and there was no alternative to would have harmed Mike and his mother less. Saving his wife’s life was important enough to justify the harm done to the old lady. This shows that proportionality analysis is about means and ends. We justify the action based on the legitimacy of the end pursued and on the helpfullness, necessiy and appropriateness of the action as a means to...