‘You gotta roll/rule with it’: Oasis and the concept of law
Abstract
This article analyses HLA Hart's legal positivist theory through the life and music of the English band Oasis. It is argued that bringing Hart and Oasis into co-orbit reveals a fundamental ambiguity and anxiety within Hart's jurisprudential performance. It is argued that Oasis’ self-confidence compares to Hart's certainty of a distinction between law and morality and Oasis’ populism echoes Hart's claim of law as dependent on communal assent. However, an examination of Oasis also makes visible an essential critique of the certain and voluntary nature of Hart's system. Oasis’ performances, on and offstage, highlight the ...
View more >This article analyses HLA Hart's legal positivist theory through the life and music of the English band Oasis. It is argued that bringing Hart and Oasis into co-orbit reveals a fundamental ambiguity and anxiety within Hart's jurisprudential performance. It is argued that Oasis’ self-confidence compares to Hart's certainty of a distinction between law and morality and Oasis’ populism echoes Hart's claim of law as dependent on communal assent. However, an examination of Oasis also makes visible an essential critique of the certain and voluntary nature of Hart's system. Oasis’ performances, on and offstage, highlight the undisclosed essentiality of violence within The Concept of Law that betrays ambiguity and anxiety regarding core elements of Hart's jurisprudential performance; the role of officials and the clarity of rules.
View less >
View more >This article analyses HLA Hart's legal positivist theory through the life and music of the English band Oasis. It is argued that bringing Hart and Oasis into co-orbit reveals a fundamental ambiguity and anxiety within Hart's jurisprudential performance. It is argued that Oasis’ self-confidence compares to Hart's certainty of a distinction between law and morality and Oasis’ populism echoes Hart's claim of law as dependent on communal assent. However, an examination of Oasis also makes visible an essential critique of the certain and voluntary nature of Hart's system. Oasis’ performances, on and offstage, highlight the undisclosed essentiality of violence within The Concept of Law that betrays ambiguity and anxiety regarding core elements of Hart's jurisprudential performance; the role of officials and the clarity of rules.
View less >
Journal Title
Griffith Law Review
Volume
24
Issue
4
Subject
Legal theory, jurisprudence and legal interpretation
HLA Hart's legal positivist theory
Oasis
Communal assent
Violence
Ambiguity
Anxiety