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Oxford Journal of Legal Studies Advance Access published online on September 14, 2009
Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, doi:10.1093/ojls/gqp022
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Law, Justice and Integrity: The Paradox of Wicked Laws

T.R.S. Allan*

Correspondence: *Professor of Jurisprudence and Public Law, University of Cambridge. Email: trsa2{at}cam.ac.uk.


  Abstract

Ronald Dworkin's theory of law forges a close connection between questions about the truth of propositions of law and the question of political obligation: law as integrity is a theory of legal practice that purports to explain, not only how the content of law is determined, but also why the law—in ordinary cases—imposes an obligation of obedience. The theory (as presented) is ultimately incoherent. If we accept Dworkin's theory of the grounds of law we are obliged to reject his claims about its force; alternatively, if we accept his view of the force of law, we must reject his theory about its grounds: he cannot be correct about both force and grounds. Dworkin supposes that, in extraordinary cases, the force of law is cancelled or overridden; but the relevant considerations of justice are wholly internal to our identification of the content of law. Consistently elaborated, integrity denies the offending requirements legal status: lex injusta non est lex.


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