The evolution of anglo-american legal positivism in the late 19th - early 20th centuries: understanding jurisprudence and law in the teachings of J. W. Salmond

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Abstract

The article is devoted to the legal doctrine of the famous New Zealand jurist John William Salmond - one of the most remarkable representatives of Anglo-American legal positivism, who made a significant contribution to its development. The aim is to reconstruct the views of a lawyer about the nature of law and the subject area of jurisprudence. The relevance lies in the fact that the evolution of Anglo-American legal positivism from J. Austin to the teachings of H.L.A. Hart is poorly studied in Russian jurisprudence while prevailing in Anglo-American legal thought. The methodological basis comprises historical approach along with the elements of a biographical approach, techniques and procedures of legal hermeneutics, rules and techniques of formal logic allowing to reconstruct the key ideas of J. Salmond's legal theory and place it in the context of the common law tradition. The main ideological line of the work is the connection between the legal teachings of J. Austin, J. Salmond and H.L.A. Hart. The work reveals features that allow to assert the typological belonging of Salmond's doctrine to the classical legal positivism in England. Particular attention in the article is paid to the study of significant differences between the legal teachings of J. Austin and J. Salmond, as well as the substantial similarities between legal theories of J. Salmond and H.L.A. Hart. The author came to the conclusion that Salmond's legal doctrine was the first in the history of English legal positivism, where the basis for the validity of law lies not in the order of the sovereign, but within the practice of the courts recognizing the rules as legal.

About the authors

Anton M. Mikhailov

Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University)

Author for correspondence.
Email: antonmikhailov@hotmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2225-4509

Candidate of Legal Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of Theory of Law and Comparative Law, International Law Department

76 Vernadsky Prospekt, Moscow, 119454, Russian Federation

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