Article
Details
Citation
Duff RA (2014) Towards a Modest Legal Moralism. Criminal Law and Philosophy, 8 (1), pp. 217-235. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11572-012-9191-8
Abstract
After distinguishing different types of Legal Moralism (positive/negative; modest/ ambitious) I defend a modest, positive Legal Moralism: we have good reason to criminalize a type of conduct if and only if it constitutes a public wrong. Some of the central elements of the argument will be: the need to begin not (as many Legal Moralists begin) with the entire realm of moral wrongdoing, but with conduct falling within the public realm of civic life; the significance of the various different processes of criminalization (of which legislation is only one); and the need to attend to the relationship between criminal law and other modes of legal regulation. Criminal law focuses on wrongs: it identifies a set of public wrongs, and provides for those accused of committing such wrongs to be called to formal public account.
Keywords
Legal Moralism; processes of criminalization; public wrongs; the public realm
Journal
Criminal Law and Philosophy: Volume 8, Issue 1
Status | Published |
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Publication date | 31/01/2014 |
Publication date online | 17/10/2012 |
URL | |
Publisher | Springer |
ISSN | 1871-9791 |
eISSN | 1871-9805 |
People (1)
Emeritus Professor, Philosophy