Artifactualism, a Critical Summary

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Artifactualism is constructed from many aspects of a variety of law theories, such as the Natural Law, Legal Positivism and Legal Realism. Though comprised of these theories, Artifactualism also criticizes them on different levels. What this theory derives from Natural Law is that law cannot be interpreted without taking into account it solidifies social norms that are present within it. From Legal Positivism it emphasizes that law is a human construct and that the focus should be on more tangible dimensions of law . Law should be interpreted through the contextual analyses of what people do in law versus focusing on finding the essence of Law as it criticizes Legal Positivists for doing. It is also critical of how it disregards other social factors such as race, class and gender. From Legal Realism, Artifactualism adopts the belief that there should be a focus on what people in positions of law actually do instead of what they are supposed to do. Law is a platform for social interactions to occur and how civil servants carry out their duty is based on many influential powers and relations within society. It is also a means to find equality among the different members of society. In criticism of Realism, Artifactualism states the Realists are too individualistic of their analyses of law and are too sensitive in regards to the constitutive law. In regards to the multiple theories discussed in part III of the article entitled “Mapping Legal Theory” by Richard F. Devlin from the Alberta Law Review, I believe the Marxist theory holds the same semblance to Artifactualism in terms of its interpretation of law. Marxist’s hold a belief that society revolves around the production of goods and the quality of society is determined by the how the relations are between the two classes within the production system. These two classes are the proletariats, who are
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