Distinguished Speakers Program 2009: Professor Wojciech Sadurski, Sydney Law School
28 July 2009
 |
| Professor Wojciech Sadurski |
Please Register Online
Professor Wojciech Sadurski, Challis Professor of Jurisprudence, Sydney Law School
Challis Chair of Jurisprudence Inaugural Lecture: Reasonableness in Law and Politics
The concept of "reasonableness" is deeply engrained both in legal theory and in political philosophy. What is puzzling, however, is that these two currents: the arguments about reasonableness in law and in politics are not considered jointly but rather constitute two parallel currents of thought with no common points. In this lecture,Professor Wojciech Sadurskiwillattempt to find the points of convergence between them.
In law, the category of reasonableness, when used in a "strong sense", is inherently lied up with proportionality, and also with the test of necessity, and thus is a guarantee of a minimal restriction of constitutional rights compatible with the attainment of a given purpose. This approach to the scrutiny of restrictions of constitutional rights carries certain disadvantages because of an unfortunate alignment of the judicial role with the role of legislator, but it also has some great advantages when compared with alternative approaches: it is more transparent when it comes to revealing to the public all the ingredients of the judicial calculus, and most importantly, it reduces the sense of defeat for the losing party. In turn in political philosophy the notion of reasonableness applies to the determination of the standards of justifications for authoritative decisions so that they can be considered legitimate, i.e. calling for respect even from those subjected to them who do not agree with them on merits. The attractiveness of this idea results from the fact that it combines two enormously popular traditions in democratic theory: those of social contract and of deliberative democracy. So it can be seen that both these conceptions: reasonableness in law and reasonableness in political theory, have some obvious commonalities at the level of their deep justifications; both appeal to liberal, egalitarian and consensus-oriented values.
About the Speaker
Wojciech Sadurski is Professor of Legal Philosophy (Personal Chair) at the University of Sydney, and is currently also Professor of Legal Theory and Philosophy of Law in the Department of Law, European University Institute in Florence. He has taught as visiting professor at a number of universities in Europe, Asia and the United States, and has written extensively on philosophy of law, political philosophy and comparative constitutional law.
Professor Sadurski is a member of a number of editorial committees and councils of non-governmental associations and think-tanks including the Institute of Public Affairs in Poland.
This event is part of the Sydney Law School Distinguished Speakers Program 2009. Click here for more details.
Time: 5.30-6.00pm registration & refreshments, 6.00-7.30pm lecture
Location: Sydney Law School, Building F10, Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney
Contact: Events Coordinator
Phone: (02) 9351 0248
