Rejoinders to Hart on Rules and Rights

A Review of Law, Morality, and Society: Essays in Honour of H.L.A. Hart by P.M.S. Hacker and J. Ra

\u3cem\u3eJus non Scriptum\u3c/em\u3e and the Reliance Principle

On the Continent, a general theory of customary law has been developed-what I term the Continental theory; it identifies formation and validity as the central issues in the analysis of custom and customary law. Yet the Continental theory, notwithstanding its longevity and continuing favorable reception among international lawyers, is ridden with problems. In particular, as I argue in the following section, the theory fails for want of a coherent position on the formation issue. In the course of my argument, I suggest a classification of the norms of customary law in terms of a generic category broader in scope than customary law, namely jus non scriptum or unwritten law. No mere refinement of terminology, the broader classification permits a new approach to the troublesome formation issue. I use this classification as a point of departure in the remaining sections of the paper, where, working with a concrete historical example, I develop rudiments of a theory of the formation and validity of unwritten legal norms. The key is the reliance principle, adapted to contexts of unwritten law. I provide an analytical statement of the principle and show that it explains the acquisition of rights and the imposition of duties in some contexts of unwritten law, while avoiding the problems of the Continental theory

A ideia central do positivismo jurídico

No passado recente, a distinção entre o juspositivismo inclusivo e o exclusivo foi vista como uma controvérsia importante no âmbito dessa corrente. Eu sustento que uma distinção mais fundamental se encontra em outra seara, qual seja, na distinção entre o positivismo como naturalismo e o positivismo sem o naturalismo. No primeiro campo, do positivismo como naturalismo, John Austin aduz que a reduçãoao fato (hábito, medo) é suficiente para explicar osmateriais tipicamente jurídico-normativos; sendo assim,nenhuma relação não-contingente entre o direitoe a moral é necessária. Isso significa que o celebradoprincípio da separação de H. L. A. Hart, longe de seencontrar no núcleo do positivismo, é corolário deuma doutrina fundamental: o naturalismo. Hans Kelsené o proponente do positivismo sem o naturalismo.Apesar de Kelsen obviamente defender o princípioda separação, sua posição representa uma rejeiçãocompleta do naturalismo, que, como ele insiste, estámal direcionado. Kelsen acredita poder explicar anormatividade no âmbito do positivismo. Ele nãoconstroi sua tese da normatividade como uma respostaà questão longamente prestigiada de como a obediênciaao direito pode ser justificada. Ao contrário, atese da normatividade de Kelsen é melhor entendidacomo o núcleo do seu argumento contra o positivismoenquanto naturalismo

Kelsen jako odmieniec : obrona radykalnej teorii norm

In his first treatise on legal theory, Hauptprobleme der Staatsrechtslehre (1911), Hans Kelsen seeks to recast legal norm theory in a way that would eliminate from the theory the imperative, with what Kelsen sees as its moral connotations. The result, Kelsen’s sanction theory, is not entirely successful. It leaves in place the imperative vis-à-vis legal officials, with obligations imposed on officials to implement sanctions. In the 1930s, Kelsen returns to the issue, radically recasting legal norm theory by introducing empowerment as the fundamental modality and obligation as merely derivative, a view that prevails in the second edition of the Reine Rechtslehre (1960)

La interpretación débil de la autoridad en la Teoría Pura del Derecho de Hans Kelsen

Autoridad qua habilitación es la interpretación débil de la autoridad en los escritos de Hans Kelsen. Por un lado, esta interpretación parece no responder al problema de la autoridad como se conoce en la tradición. Por otro lado, ella se ajusta al positivismo jurídico. ¿Es Kelsen un positivista? No sin reservas. Él defiende la tesis de la normatividad junto con la tesis de la separación, pero es en todo caso discutible si la tesis de la normatividad obliga a una interpretación más fuerte de la autoridad que aquella modelada sobre la habilitación. En el ensayo, yo ofrezco un argumento prima facie en favor de una interpretación más fuerte de la autoridad en Kelsen. Argumento, sin embargo, que la evidencia textual tiene mucho peso en favor de la interpretación débil. Tanto la perspectiva estática como aquella dinámica de las normas son puntos de vista omnipresentes en la Teoría Pura del Derecho, y ambos reflejan diversas especies de habilitación como puntos conclusivos de las reconstrucciones de Kelsen

Symbol Nomenclature for Graphical Representations of Glycans

ISSN:0959-665

Structure of Metaphase Chromosomes: A Role for Effects of Macromolecular Crowding

In metaphase chromosomes, chromatin is compacted to a concentration of several hundred mg/ml by mechanisms which remain elusive. Effects mediated by the ionic environment are considered most frequently because mono- and di-valent cations cause polynucleosome chains to form compact ∼30-nm diameter fibres in vitro, but this conformation is not detected in chromosomes in situ. A further unconsidered factor is predicted to influence the compaction of chromosomes, namely the forces which arise from crowding by macromolecules in the surrounding cytoplasm whose measured concentration is 100–200 mg/ml. To mimic these conditions, chromosomes were released from mitotic CHO cells in solutions containing an inert volume-occupying macromolecule (8 kDa polyethylene glycol, 10.5 kDa dextran, or 70 kDa Ficoll) in 100 µM K-Hepes buffer, with contaminating cations at only low micromolar concentrations. Optical and electron microscopy showed that these chromosomes conserved their characteristic structure and compaction, and their volume varied inversely with the concentration of a crowding macromolecule. They showed a canonical nucleosomal structure and contained the characteristic proteins topoisomerase IIα and the condensin subunit SMC2. These observations, together with evidence that the cytoplasm is crowded in vivo, suggest that macromolecular crowding effects should be considered a significant and perhaps major factor in compacting chromosomes. This model may explain why ∼30-nm fibres characteristic of cation-mediated compaction are not seen in chromosomes in situ. Considering that crowding by cytoplasmic macromolecules maintains the compaction of bacterial chromosomes and has been proposed to form the liquid crystalline chromosomes of dinoflagellates, a crowded environment may be an essential characteristic of all genomes