The Meaning and Characteristics of Legal Principles: A Conceptual Analysis from the Perspective of Modern Legal Philosophy
Keywords:
Legal normative standards, Legal principles, General principles of law, Legal values, Practical reasonsAbstract
This academic article aims to examine the meaning and characteristics of legal principles. In Thai legal scholarship, there has been no clear or systematic definition of the meaning and nature of legal principles, resulting in a theoretical gap that has not been seriously or clearly addressed. This article employs a conceptual analysis approach, drawing upon the works of influential contemporary legal philosophers who have significantly contributed to the theoretical understanding of legal principles, namely Ronald Dworkin, Joseph Raz, and Robert Alexy.
The findings indicate that legal principles are unwritten normative standards of a general nature that function directly as guiding reasons or grounds for decision-making or conduct in matters related to law. Legal principles possess three key characteristics: (1) they are normative standards; (2) they are general or more abstract in nature than legal rules; and (3) they serve as reasons or guiding tools for legal decision-making. Legal principles may have either legal or non-legal status. A legal principle attains legal status only when it is directly applied by a court in adjudicating a case as a legal norm forming the basis of the judgment.
The author offers the following recommendations: (1) legal principles should primarily be considered within the legal dimension (law) and should only exceptionally be examined through the moral dimension when absolutely necessary; and (2) courts should first identify legal principles from sources that are closely connected to written law or the legal system itself, and only if such principles cannot be found should courts seek legal principles from other sources.
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