Maastricht Foundations of Law Colloquia

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The Department of Foundations of Law in the Faculty of Law cordially invites you to the next meeting of our Maastricht Foundations of Law Colloquia. On 9 October our speaker is Hafsteinn Dan Kristjánsson from the University of Iceland - Title: The Boundary of a Legal System: The Significance of Norms of Legal Method for Answering the Membership Question

Abstract:
The paper addresses the question of what distinguishes norms that are laws or members of a legal system from other norms that have legal effects according to the legal system? Despite the importance of the question for some theories of law, existing solutions have significant weaknesses. The paper argues that two things are needed to answer the question. Firstly, a distinction must be made between being valid as law and valid according to the law. While all laws are valid as law, some are also valid according to the law, but other kinds of norms are only valid according to law or have legal effects for different reasons. Secondly, understanding diverse norms of legal method is important for explaining the legal effects of different norms and, thereby, answering the membership question. Even though the categories are somewhat inspired by Hart’s secondary rules, they are not the same. Norms of legal method include: (a) norms of recognition, which identify sources of law; (b) norms of interpretation that regulate legal interpretation; (c) norms of subsumption that regulate how facts are subsumed under legal norms; (d) norms of applicability, which regulate the internal and external relationships of norms in various ways; (e) norms of change; and (f) norms of institutional decision-making as well as other institutional norms or norms of law-applying powers and the related norms of discretion. The paper applies the distinction and these norms of legal method to explain the status of different types of norms that have legal effects according to a legal system. 

The colloquium’s format is pre-read. Those attending are expected to have read the text in advance. The draft will be circulated in advance.

Convenors:
Lukasz Dziedzic
Sebastian Reyes Molina
Roland Pierik

The colloquia will take place physically and online. The Zoom link for the online sessions will be distributed later.