Legal Values in Western Society

Description

Jurisprudence; European legal theory. A point of comparison for review against today's United Kingdom with its growing restrictions on individual liberties and free speech, which tendency has led to a state which now resembles the following: "Traditional criminal law defines a burglar both by his acts and by the intent. The phenomenonological school defines him by personality. A burglar is one who is a burglar 'in essence' (wer seinem Wesen nach ein Diebist). The judge must decide by intuition whether to convict or not. There could be no more complete negation of the rationality of the law, nor a better means of terrorising the masses without the restraint of predictable rules." -p.132 In addition to the illustration from the German Nazi era above, the totalitarian communistic system equivalent is treated later in the book; see p.159 et seq.. "The common law traditionally regarded the subjective elements of wrongdoing as being beyond proof. As ChiefJustice Brian said in 1477 'it is common learning that the thought of a man will not be tried, for even the devil does not know the thought of man'. Y.B. Pasch. 17 Edw. iv.f.1pl.2 at f.2 -pp.132-133