Human Rights and English Law (LLB Level) Is Ronald Dworkin a Essay

Human Rights and English Law (LLB Level) Is Ronald Dworkin a positivist or a natural lawyer Discuss, with reference to the differences between the natural - Essay Example classified as a classical Natural lawyer because he does not equate morally unjust law with bad law, although he does highlight the value of the moral dimension to law when he states: â€Å"According to law as integrity, propositions of law are true if they figure in or follow from the principles of justice, fairness and procedural due process that provide the best constructive interpretation of the community’s legal practice.†1 Although Dworkin also endorses some of the Positivist views such that the fact that law is guided by a wide framework of social conventions or rules, he could best be classified as a natural lawyer since he suggests that every legal action has a moral dimension. This aspect assumes special importance in the context of human rights, which are enshrined in international human rights treaties, since human rights are not confined within the limits of a particular state. The universal nature of human rights ascribes to it a moral foundation in its in terpretation, since the moral aspect of human rights involves an identification of the minimum requirements for human beings to lead a good life. Human rights are deemed to be universal in the sense that all human beings have these rights and should be able to enjoy them.2 The idea of law being â€Å"natural† implies that it is derived from the basis of morality. The foundation of natural law is that a putative norm cannot be considered legally valid, unless and until it is able to pass the moral threshold. The utilitarian position on liberty is based upon the proposition that the value of individual freedom is generally associated with that of greater good for society as a whole.3 Therefore, as stated by Feldman, â€Å"once something has been identified as a good, it must prima facie be made available to all without differentiating with reference to preferred outcomes.4 Fuller highlights this aspect of â€Å"good† in attributing an internal system of rules in framing the law. He contends that framing