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    Carmelics

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Original/inverse
    See Original
    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Rand and Ghate's view that government is necessary for objective law is contradicted by historical evidence of the Law Merchant.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Starting in the 11th century, merchants from various countries created the Law Merchant to protect foreign merchants not covered by local laws.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.The Law Merchant was uniform throughout Europe and enforced by merchant-created courts in European cities.
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    • 3.The Law Merchant was developed and enforced without the involvement of any European government.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Lon Fuller's 'inner morality of law' requires generality, consistency, and publicness—criteria the Law Merchant satisfied without state apparatus.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Fuller argued in 'The Morality of Law' (1964) that legal systems emerge from reciprocal expectations, not sovereign command, validating non-state legal orders.
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    • 3.The Law Merchant's voluntary arbitration and reputation-based enforcement produced stable, predictable rules meeting Fuller's criteria for genuine law.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Bruce Benson's 'The Enterprise of Law' (1990) documents that the Law Merchant achieved objectivity through iterated merchant interactions producing convergent norms.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Hayek's spontaneous order theory holds that decentralized rule-emergence can produce more consistent and universal norms than centralized legislative design.
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    • 3.If objectivity in law requires universalizability and consistency rather than state sanction, decentralized systems can satisfy that standard on their own terms.
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    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.