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In Search of Common Values Amongst Competing Universals: An Argument for the Return to Value’s Original Meaning

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Abstract

This article presents an argument for the return to the original meaning of the concept value. This is achieved by revisiting the genealogy of the concept and by placing in perspective and questioning the common parlance thereof in contemporary legal discourse. The approach is decidedly against the often casual way in which courts and commentators treat the concept, seemingly as concretisation, validation, exegesis or reinforcement of fundamental norms, but without paying attention to its original meaning and use. It is submitted that we confine our talk of values to the products of valuation, that is, the taste, the will, the esteem and/or perspective of some individual or group. Yet, it is not suggested that we completely discard the use of values discourse in law, the goal is rather to restate the inherent relativity of values language in legal discourse. This will bring necessary order to the current conceptual disarray and will foster mutual understanding and alliance.

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Notes

  1. The tracing of lineages and history.

  2. See Sect. 11(2) of the Interim Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 200 of 1993.

  3. See the West’s Code of Georgia Annotated (Ga.Code Ann.) §§ 26-1101, 26-1311 26-1902, 26-2001, 26-2201, 26-3301 (1972).

  4. Particularly the eighth and fourteenth amendments of the US Constitution which respectively prohibits the infliction of, inter alia, cruel and unusual punishments, or the enactment or enforcement of laws that, inter alia, deprive any person of life and liberty.

  5. Also see Furman v Georgia 408 U.S. 238 (1972).

  6. Quoting from Hobbes Leviathan Chapter X.

  7. While some herald Adam Smith as the founder of modern economics, Peil convincingly argues that Smith's economic theory is “not yet an ahistorical theory about universal laws concerning human economic behavior” which in itself contradicts the image of the modern economist [14: p. 76]. It is furthermore interesting to note that Smith's The Wealth of Nations was published in the same year as the American Declaration of Independence [11: p. 64].

  8. Taste in eighteenth century aesthetics refers to “the special mental faculty, or special mode of employment of mental faculties, exercised in aesthetic judgement” [22: p. 232].

  9. Also see J.L. Mackie who argued that moral judgements merely reflect projections of our own attitudes onto the world, resulting in a set of moral beliefs that we mistakenly take to be objective [[29]: p. 15].

  10. A realist stance to value is based on the belief that there are objective facts about value. And facts will be objective if “its character and existence does not depend on what people believe or would have reason to believe about it” [[35]; p. 137].

  11. Pound was referring to the publication Law as Means to an End by R von Jhering translated as translated by I Husik (1924) and reprinted in Michael Freeman Lloyd's Introduction to Jurisprudence 9th Edition London: Sweet & Maxwell (Thomson Reuters) (2014) p. 763.

  12. This compares with Nietzsche's misgivings in The Gay Science and On the Genealogy of Morals discussed above.

  13. For some recent editions to the debate see: Mark Goodale Surrendering to Utopia: An Anthropology of Human Rights Stanford: Stanford University Press (2009); Allen Buchanan The heart of Human Rights New York: Oxford University Press (2013); Mark Goodale Human Rights: An Anthropological Reader Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing (2009); Christopher N. J. Roberts The contentious history of the international bill of human rights Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2015); Patrick Macklem The Sovereignty of Human Rights Oxford: Oxford University Press (2015).

  14. John Mahoney The challenge of human rights: Their origin, development and significance Oxford: Blackwell Publishing (2007); Charles R. Beitz The Idea of Human Rights Oxford: Oxford University Press (2009); James Griffen On Human Rights Oxford: Oxford University Press (2008).

  15. Particularly Sects. 1, 2, 3, and 225-4-10. Also see the Prime Minister's Circular published in the Official Gazette of 3 March 2011 on the implementation of Law 2010–1192.

  16. Article 3 of the Convention reads: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment of punishment”.

  17. Articles 8, 9 and 10 of the Convention respectively relates to a person's right to respect for his or her private and family life, the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and the right to freedom of expression.

  18. Article 11 of the Convention relates to a person's right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association with others.

  19. Article 14 of the Convention reads: “The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in [the] Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status”.

  20. Important debates on (human) rights discourse that emanate from the case include the right to freedom of expression, freedom of thought, conscience, belief and religion, the importance of human dignity, gender equality, the empowerment of women and the obliteration of discrimination, the necessities of public safety etc.

  21. In para [B.28] the Belgian Constitutional Court stated that “In so far as the individualization of persons, of which the face is a fundamental element, constitutes an essential condition for the functioning of a democratic society, of which each member is a subject of law, the legislature was entitled to consider that the concealment of the face could endanger the functioning of society as thus conceived and, accordingly, should be punished by criminal sanctions.”

  22. Note para [19] of the dissenting judgment where it is pointed out that 45 out of 47 member States of the Council of Europe have not deemed it necessary to legislate in this area.

  23. In para [14], Judges Nussberger and Jäderblom dissented and argued that this blanket ban can be interpreted as “a sign of selective pluralism and restricted tolerance”.

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  1. School of Law, City University of Hong Kong, Room P5414, 5/F, Acad 1, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China

    Andra le Roux-Kemp

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le Roux-Kemp, A. In Search of Common Values Amongst Competing Universals: An Argument for the Return to Value’s Original Meaning. Int J Semiot Law 31, 877–903 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-018-9584-7

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