Citation

Arneson RJ. Crim. Law Philos. 2013; 7(3): 435-454.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s11572-013-9240-y

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Against Patrick Devlin, H. L. A. Hart rejects the enforcement of morals as such. Hart defends an expanded version of John Stuart Mill's harm principle, but this expanded version is no more defensible than Mill's original claim. Hart's discussion fails to clarify what is really at stake in controversies regarding the moral acceptability of criminal prohibition of such activities as suicide and assisted suicide, recreational drug use, prostitution, and so on. Regarding the enforcement of morals as such, we should acknowledge that the jury is still out. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

Language: en

Keywords

Paternalism; The enforcement of morals as such; The harm principle