Value neutrality as a distinctive feature of legal positivism: positive and negative aspects

Present master issue analyses attitudes of the theory of legal positivism. The special attention is paid to the accent of this theory – value-neutralism. This work is composed out of four parts. The first part examines philosophic origin of legal positivism. It must be noted, that legal positivism arose from philosophic positivism, which main idea is to analyze only what is positive (what is established), what really exists, eliminating any metaphysical speculations. The second part of the master issue coherent analyses legal positivism, presenting different forms of the theory starting early ages and finishing nowadays. A great deal of consideration is set to the particular theories of every author representing legal positivism. In the work mostly referred to H. L. A. Hart’s neopositivism theory. The third part of the present master issue presents positive features of value-neutralism. The first of the features says that objective moral does not exist; therefore it conditions will of positivists to wipe out all value attitudes from the law, which according to them only pollutes the science of law. Whereas the second feature states, that positivists refusing values outline clear bounds of law and the science of law. The last part of work lays negative features of legal positivism. One of them says, that sometimes it is doubted if conception of value-neutral law is beneficial at all, because having a theory clean from values, it would be impossible to distinguish right from wrong