The Philosophical and Rhetorical Responses to Open Texture

In his book The Concept of Law H. L. A. Hart observes that the law must refer to broad classes of persons or classes of acts, things or circumstances. This observation is not entirely original; both Plato and Aristotle also note that laws are general rules that apply to large groups of actions or persons. Plato in the Politicus (295a) compares legislators to trainers who "When they lay down rules for physical welfare, find it necessary to give bulk instructions having regard to the general benefit of the average pupil. " In the same way the legislator "will legislate for all individual citizens, but it will be by what may be called a "bulk " method rather than individual treatment. " Aristotle in the Politics (1292a33) also notes that the law must deal with general matters as opposed to the magistrate, who deals with particular situations. " Such a division of roles is necessary "because of the difficulty of making a general rule to cover all cases." (1282b2). Because a law must be framed in general terms, Hart states that the operation of the law depends on "the capacity to recognize particular acts, things, and circumstances as instances of the general classification which the law makes. " In most cases, this is no