The science of legal policy in the interpretation of l. I. Petrażycki: “There was a gospel of love after the roman law”
Abstract
The article deals with the science of legal policy in the interpretation of Leon Petrażycki who created the theory according to which the law constituted a psychic factor of the social life. The author justifies the idea that Petrażycki followed Plato’s line developing his ideal project of the state policy in the sphere of law. Unlike Plato who put forward the ideals of justice and moderation, Petrażycki formulated the ideal of “effective love” for the legislator. Petrażycki relied on the notion of a social progress recognizing the exclusively temporary nature of the law. According to Petrażycki, the ethics of love will make the existence of punitive and awarding law redundant. He argued that a legal policy based on punishments and awards is destructive for the human society. Petrażycki made a great contribution to the development of the legislative art. Thus, he drew the legislator’s attention to the importance of taking into account ethical characteristics of the addressee of the law. Similarly, Petrażycki urged the legislator to associate itself with a doctor who should strive not to harm. In addition, Petrażycki suggested using the educational potential of law, believing that with the law would help to influence favourably the mass psyche. The ideas of legal policy expressed by Petrażycki are increasingly applied in legal practice. Thus, the humane criminal legal policy implemented in modern Norway can serve as a confirmation. It is about the existence of queues for serving sentences in Norway and about the mechanism for discussing the policy of criminal punishment with the participation of persons who are currently undergoing such punishments.
Keywords:
legal policy, ideal of love, psychological theory of law, punitive law, progress of law
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