Distinguished Speakers Program 2009: Professor Tom Campbell
11 August 2009
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Professor Tom Campbell, Director, Centre for Applied Philiosophy and Public Ethics
Resuscitating Lost Causes: Confessions of a Legal Positivist
From the experience of working in Law Schools in two hemispheres for over twenty years Professor Campbell reports that Legal Positivism is not well received in academic circles, although it is alive and well in legal practice, where there is considerable respect for distinguishing between the law as it is,and the law as it ought to be. Professor Campbell believes that legal positivism, as a pariah theory, is pilloried as inaccurate, obscure, amoral and almost certainly immoral - a poor basis for the education of budding lawyers with a desire to promote justice and make a difference in the world.He suggests that this is a serious mistake which threatens to undermine the prime function of law in a democracy, namely the impartial institutionalisation of rule-governance, where the sources of the rules are empirically identifiable and their interpretation is strictly circumscribed. This is, of course, an ideal, which is why it may properly be called 'prescriptive legal positivism'.
About the speaker
Professor Tom Campbell MA(Hons), BA (Hons), PhDhas written extensively on law and legal philosophy throughout his distinguished career. Among other positions, he was Dean of the ANU Faculty of Law from 1994 to 1997. He is currently working under an ARC Discovery Grant on an Australian alternative to Bills of Rights.
This event is part of the Distinguished Speakers Program. For more informationclick here
Time: 5.30-7.30pm
Location: Sydney Law School, Building F10, Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney
Cost: Free
Contact: Events Coordinator
Phone: 9351 0248
