Online | Implicit Law

Please note that the time allocated for this colloquium will be devoted to discussion of the paper. Download a copy of the paper.

Speaker:  Prof. Kevin Toh (University College London)

About the Paper

It is plausible to think that the law of any community comprises not only (i) an explicit part that consists of enactments, judicial decisions, and settled legal practices, but also (ii) an implicit part which judges rely on in adjudicating novel issues not addressed by any part of the explicit law.  Legal positivists have in general been resistant to recognizing implicit law, while natural law theorists have conceived implicit law in moralized terms.  This paper broaches a new way of conceiving implicit law that exploits an analogy between implicit law and implicit fictional truths – i.e. what are true in a fiction but are not explicitly specified as such by the author or artist.

About the Speaker

Kevin Toh, the Professor of Philosophy of Law at University College London, is the author of a number articles about the nature of law. 

Delivery

This event will be delivered via Zoom Meeting. Attendees will be encouraged to keep their cameras on during the event however microphones will be turned off unless delegates are contributing to discussion and/or asking a question. Registered delegates will receive the zoom joining link 48-hours before the start of the event. Contact the Laws Events team (laws-events@ucl.ac.uk) if you have not received the link.

About the Institute

The Institute brings together political and legal theorists from Law, Political Science and Philosophy and organises regular colloquia in terms 2 and 3.

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