Legal formalism is a legal positivist view in philosophy of law and jurisprudence. While Jeremy Bentham's legal positivism can be seen as appertaining to the legislature, legal formalism appertains to the Judge; that is, formalism does not (as positivists do) suggest that the substantive justice of a law is irrelevant, but rather, that in a democracy, that is a question for the legislature to address, not the Judge.
Read more about Legal Formalism: Formalism Explained, Formalism Compared To Legal Realism, Justice Scalia and Formalism, Formalism and Frederick Schauer
Famous quotes containing the words legal and/or formalism:
“There are ... two minimum conditions necessary and sufficient for the existence of a legal system. On the one hand those rules of behavior which are valid according to the system’s ultimate criteria of validity must be generally obeyed, and on the other hand, its rules of recognition specifying the criteria of legal validity and its rules of change and adjudication must be effectively accepted as common public standards of official behavior by its officials.”
—H.L.A. (Herbert Lionel Adolphus)
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