Hart, Herbert Lionel Adolphus(1907–92)

Abstract

Herbert Lionel Adolphus Hart (1907–92) revived the tradition of analytical jurisprudence, exploring both the concept of law in general and a number of specific concepts—causation, rights, obligation, responsibility, rules—which structure legal reasoning and doctrines. His theory of law lies in the positivist tradition of Bentham and John Austin, which asserts that law is a social artifact separate from morality. Hart's innovation was to draw on linguistic philosophy to elucidate the relevant concepts by examining their operation within the practical contexts in which they are used, and to theorize law as a system of primary and secondary rules with both internal and external aspects. Hart also contributed to moral and liberal political philosophy, making influential interventions in normative and policy debates about matters such as capital punishment, abortion, and the regulation of homosexuality. His treatment of these issues was located within a tradition stretching back to Hobbes, Hume, Locke, and, most obviously, J. S. Mill, to which Hart contributed, among other things, an elaboration of principles limiting the proper scope of state action, a novel account of the justification of punishment, and an analysis of the relationship between utility and rights.