Mirror of Justice

A blog dedicated to the development of Catholic legal theory.
Affiliated with the Program on Church, State & Society at Notre Dame Law School.

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

"Rules, Standards, and Principles"

Here's something from a post over at Steve Bainbridge's other blog, about "rules, standards, and principles."  Quoting Larry Solum, Steve writes:

  • Rules are the most constraining and rigid. Once a rule has been interpreted and the facts have been found, then the application of the rule to the facts decides the issue to which it is relevant.
  • Standards provide an intermediate level of constraint. Standards guide decisions but provide a greater range of choice or discretion; for example, a standard may provide a framework for balancing several factors.
  • Principles are even less constraining. Principles provide mandatory considerations for judges. Whereas, standards identify an exhaustive set of considerations for adjudication or policy making, a principle identifies a nonexhaustive set, leaving open the possibility that other considerations may be relevant to the decision. ...

So, what is it that Catholic Social Teaching gives us?  Rules, standards, or principles?

https://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2007/03/rules_standards.html

Garnett, Rick | Permalink

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