November 24, 2015

Larry Alexander On Legal Positivism and Originalist Interpretation

Larry Alexander, University of San Diego School of Law, is publishing Legal Positivism and Originalist Interpretation in the Revista Argentina de Teoria Juridica (2015). Here is the abstract.
The topic I have been assigned for this keynote address is the relationship between legal positivism and originalist theories of interpretation. Fortunately for me, there is indeed a relationship between these two things, and a strong one at that. Or so I shall contend. My plan is as follows: I shall first give an account of legal positivism. That account will be brief, no more than a sketch, but hopefully not a caricature. But it will be sufficient for demonstrating the relationship between legal positivism and originalist interpretation. After my brief portrayal of legal positivism, I shall turn my attention to originalist interpretation. I shall show why legal positivism supports originalism. And I shall conclude by discussing various objections to originalism, objections that nevertheless can be successfully parried.
Download the article from SSRN at the link.

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