Concept
Positive law
Overview
law
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
In the original texts
Passages from public-domain books where Positive law is discussed.
positive laws; when the legislature establishes a certain form of government and succession of princes. At first sight it may be thought, that this must resolve into some of the preceding titles of authority. The legislative power, whence the positive law is derived, must either be established by original contract, long possession, present possession, conquest, or succession; and consequently the positive law must…
David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature
names the idea; states what it is; opens on it
Another Division Of Law Again, of Positive Lawes some are Humane, some Divine; And of Humane positive lawes, some are Distributive, some Penal. Distributive are those that determine the Rights of the Subjects, declaring to every man what it is, by which he acquireth and holdeth a propriety in lands, or goods, and a right or liberty of action; and these speak…
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
states what it is; names the idea; author linked in the graph
In no country do the decisions of positive law coincide exactly, in every case, with the rules which the natural sense of justice would dictate. Systems of positive law, therefore, though they deserve the greatest authority, as the records of the sentiments of mankind in different ages and nations, yet can never be regarded as accurate systems of the rules of natural justice.
Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments
states what it is; names the idea; opens on it
On the other hand, it is certain that apart from the state there is no right of punishment. All right to punish is based upon the positive law alone, which _before_ the offence has determined a punishment for it, the threat of which, as a counter-motive, is intended to outweigh all possible motives for the offence. This positive law is to be regarded as sanctioned and recognised by all the members of the state. It…
Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Idea
states what it is; names the idea
But hunting and similar pursuits in like manner claim our attention. For the legislator appears to have a duty imposed upon him which goes beyond mere legislation. There is something over and above law which lies in a region between admonition and law, and has several times occurred to us in the course of discussion; for example, in the education of very young children there were things, as we maintain, which are…
Plato, Laws
states what it is; names the idea
Philosophers who discussed Positive law
Related ideas
- Hans Kelsen
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Thomas Aquinas
- Case law
- Natural law
- Legal positivism
- Legal realism
- Thomas Hobbes
- H. L. A. Hart
- Libertarianism
- Martin Luther
- John Austin (legal philosopher)
Place in the tradition
Part of Legalism (Chinese philosophy).