Torture, Necessity, and Supreme Emergency: Law and Morality at the End of Law

Authors

Zachary R. Calo, Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law CenterFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2009

Abstract

This paper employs Michael Walzer's concept of "Supreme Emergency" to address the permissibility of torture under conditions of necessity. It proposes moving beyond both utilitarian and deontological approaches to legal authority in order to understood necessity as a moral category. A full account of right action under conditions of necessity therefore demands taking account of the distinct yet cooperative function provided by legal and moral norms. A political official might therefore possess moral but not legal warrant to act in contravention of binding legal norms. Preserving the validity of law is essential to the economy of social reconstitution in the aftermath of political tragedy.

Recommended Citation

Zachary R. Calo, Torture, Necessity, and Supreme Emergency: Law and Morality at the End of Law, 43 VAL. U. L. REV. 1591 (Summer 2009).

Source Publication

Valparaiso University Law Review