Proposal:
The debate and responses between natural law and legal positivism from different perspectives allow individuals to analyze the implications of creating legislation towards elder drivers due to the risk of cognitive decline, challenging the extent of the law’s ability to offer autonomy to drivers and safety to the public. From a natural law perspective, creating legislation that prevents individuals from personal choices and rights such as driving and the privileges it can offer can institute unfair standards that infringe on fundamental freedoms due to ordinary oversights that could occur to anyone. Hoffman’s article attempts to propose that medical physicians should influence motor vehicle regulations as cognitive decline in elders can hinder their abilities on the road, without recognizing other underlying factors that can similarly provoke dangers on the road. Austin perhaps would have argued in favor of the elders saying that these laws are meant to impose sanctions on driving privileges, however, Hart shows how these regulatory laws despite being imposed by the elite are designed to establish social order. A legal positivist perspective may interpret the proposed legislation as a way to protect and create the legal norms, statutes, and regulations that allow individuals to drive safely. The decisions conducted by legal institutions are heavily prioritized within the legal positivism stance, creating some difficulties for individuals to support legislation that problematizes the understanding and inhibition of original practices. For my paper, Dworkin’s criticism of Hart’s interpretation of legal positivism, despite not considering himself a natural theorist, interprets the law in a manner that upholds individual rights and societal values. Dworkin’s legal theory prioritizes both structures of the legal decision-making process but emphasizes the need for morality to establish equality for all individuals. Analyzing Dworkin’s criticism of Hart will require understanding the extent to which the legislation adheres to the principles or legal structure of this matter and whether or not those motives are enough to ensure that the proposed legislation will prevent arbitrariness of the driving rights entitled to the elder population.
– Hart, HLA, The Concept of Law, 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. (ISBN 978-0199644704)