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Journal of the Polish Section of IVR (ISSN:2082-3304)

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Open texture of law and evolution of legal institutions. The case of marriage

Mgr Bartosz BISKUP

Jagiellonian University

English abstract: This paper outlines how we can use Hart’s conception of the open texture of law for a  theoretical reflection on the phenomenon of evolving legal institutions. The first part of the paper reflects on the concept of ‘open texture’. It presents the so-called prescriptive interpretation of the open texture, initially proposed by Brian Bix. The prescriptive interpretation does not aim to prove the existence of open texture. It indicates that we should interpret legal provisions ‘as if’ there was an open texture. In the second part, I present how the open structure of law explains judicial activism or legislative amendments. As an example, the concept of marriage is of primary concern. One of the main pitfalls is the so-called ‘semantic argument’, which highlights the linguistic boundaries for making certain legal changes (e.g., introducing same-sex marriages and granting legal personhood to rivers). The problem of semantic boundaries is placed in the context of the division between concepts relating to social and legal kinds. Finally, the above considerations are tentatively applied to the discussion about contents of Article 18 of the Polish Constitution.

Keywords: open texture, marriage, legal kinds

Language: Polish

Published: Number 1(34)/2023, pp.18-31

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280//AFPiFS.2023.1.18

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This text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial – No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: legal kinds, marriage, open texture

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Keywords

Milena Korycka respect for law legality law and conventional social facts self-realization contextualism reflexivity procedural criminal law dialogical cosmopolitanism Unfinished Dialogue civic participation Constitution strict scrutiny test judge normative and methodological debate Wojciech Engelking katechon metaphysical vagueness narratology individual and political freedom grounding Bruno Latour institutionalization of collective memory profession of advocate personal autonomy legislative lawful excuse (justification) legal constitutionalism administrative case law aims means of the law cognitive dissonance ‘componential’ theory of values perfectionist liberalism Thomas Bayes libertinism symbolic law Central Europe freedom of the press judicial argumentation Pasikowski’s Pigs state of exception statutory lawlessness qualitative content analysis reflective methodology political participation of women pluralism professional competence the principle of gender equality theory of deliberative democracy border persons legal lenguage

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