Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-13T19:25:06.160Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 8 - Indeterminate and Vague Laws

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2023

Martin Peterson
Affiliation:
Texas A & M University
Get access

Summary

Should acts that are somewhat right and somewhat wrong be permitted or prohibited by the law? Five theories are presented and discussed. Each is evaluated with respect to how well it meets five desiderata. The first holds that a plausible theory should be decisive in the sense that it must always generate a practical ought. The court cannot refrain from ruling on a case, every case brought in front of the court must be resolved. The second desideratum is that the court should not be permitted to issue a ruling it knows to be incorrect. The third is an addendum to the second: a ruling based on a sincere but false belief is not acceptable for the same reason as a sincere but incorrect ruling on the soccer field is. The fourth desideratum is that a ruling must be predictable (after a precedent has been established) for agents with access to all relevant facts. Finally, the fifth desideratum is Aristotle’s observation that judges (and everyone else) should treat like cases alike. I argue that the only theory that meets all five desiderata is a view I call precedentism. According to this theory, doctrinally indeterminate oughts are indeed indeterminate, but precedents can generate new determinate practical oughts.

Type
Chapter
Information
Ethics in the Gray Area
A Gradualist Theory of Right and Wrong
, pp. 166 - 183
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×