Legal Philosophy Research Group Workshop – Hillary Nye

Western Law's Legal Philosophy Research Group presents a workshop with Hillary Nye, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta titled "It’s Not Right, But it’s Okay’: Role Morality and Judicial Decision-Making." This workshop is for academics (faculty, students and other researchers) at Western.

This is a virtual event, find the link here. 

Abstract

In this article, I argue against the sentiment expressed in the title. ‘It’s not right, but it’s okay’ appears to encapsulate the attitude of some judges, when making difficult decisions and facing bad laws that they feel compelled to apply. I explore the idea of role morality, which suggests that, under certain circumstances, occupying a role can change what is morally permissible. I argue that, while it is true that roles can change what is permissible, they do so through changing what is right, and therefore ‘it’s not right, but it’s okay’ is an incoherent position, at least for judges. A judge must always make an all-things-considered judgment about what ought to be done. In circumstances where a judge feels compelled to apply a law that appears morally objectionable, they must either a) not apply the law, or b) conclude that applying the law truly is the right thing to do. There is no middle ground where one is permitted to apply a bad law, though that remains the wrong thing to do.

About Hillary Nye

Hillary Nye is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta. Her research is in legal philosophy, focusing particularly on issues of jurisprudential methodology, philosophical pragmatism, and the Rule of Law. She holds a doctorate (JSD) and a masters (LLM) from New York University School of Law, as well as a BA and LLB from The University of Queensland, Australia. Most recently, before joining U of A Law, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Law Department of the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she taught jurisprudence. Her publications include peer-reviewed articles in the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies and the Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence.