Hart's Flaws Of The Legal System

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Unlike previous legal theorists who construed the legal system as merely punitive codes of conduct implicated by a sovereign figure to private citizens, H. L. A. Hart argues that there are supplementary aspects of the legal system that goes beyond these “primary rules” (79). According to Hart, if the customs of a society consists of only primary rules, this form of standards will be permeated with flaws, and cannot be considered as a legal system (92). The mains flaws indicated by Hart are issues of uncertainty, static, and inefficiency (92-93). Uncertainty relates to the doubtful existence of the rules as they are not statutory rules; static relates the inflexibility of the rules; and lastly, inefficiency relates to the lack of force in promulgating the rules (92-93). Along with delineating the flaws, Hart also provides solutions to each flaw, which …show more content…

Hart states that examples of the rule of recognition are statutory laws, and bodies of the legal system which enact and maintain these laws, giving them “legal validity” (95). However, these rules of recognition are not only applicable to the actual laws themselves, but they also validate these legal bodies as authoritative. Through the process known as check-and-balances, each body of the legal system is regulated by the other bodies. For example, the executive can either allow the passage of a bill from the legislature, or veto it; in turn, the legislature may override the executive’s veto. Additionally, the constitutionality of the bill may be inspected by the judiciary, and both the legislature and executive have the power to regulate the makeup of the judiciary body. As displayed, each body within the legal system regulates, and is regulated, by the other