The Moral Dimension of Proportionality

Speaker: Professor George Letsas (University College London)
Chair: Professor Jonathan Wolff (Dean of Arts & Humanities, University College London)
Admission: Free
Accreditation: This event is accredited with 1 CPD hour with the SRA and BSB
Series: Current Legal Problems 2015-16

Proportionality is a distinctively legal concept. It figures prominently in criminal law, where it speaks to doctrinal questions such as the appropriate degree of the severity of punishment and the limits of using force in self-defense.

It also plays an important role in war law, qualifying principles of jus ad bellum and jus in bello. But perhaps its lead role is to be found in constitutional law.

In Europe and other parts of the world, courts use it as a test for determining whether someone’s fundamental rights have been violated.

In this lecture Professor Letsas argues that proportionality is neither a form of cost-benefit analysis, nor is it about the balancing of all pertinent moral reasons.

He defends instead the view that the different uses of proportionality in law express the same moral concern, a concern that is self-standing in some appropriate sense, in that it exists independently of the law.

The moral dimension of proportionality lies in the distinct normative roles we play while engaging in different practices, and the sub-set of moral reasons that define these roles.