H. L. A. Hart | |
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Born |
Herbert Lionel Adolphus Hart 18 July 1907 Harrogate, United Kingdom |
Died | 19 December 1992 Oxford, United Kingdom |
(aged 85)
Alma mater | New College, Oxford |
Spouse(s) | Jenifer Williams (1941–92; his death) |
Era | 20th-century philosophy |
Region | Western philosophy |
School |
Analytic Legal positivism |
Main interests
|
Jurisprudence, linguistic philosophy, political philosophy, liberalism, utilitarianism |
Notable ideas
|
Empiricist normative foundations of legal systems |
Influences
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Influenced
|
Herbert Lionel Adolphus Hart, FBA (/hɑːrt/; 18 July 1907 – 19 December 1992), usually cited as H. L. A. Hart, was a British legal philosopher, and a major figure in political and legal philosophy. He was Professor of Jurisprudence at Oxford University and the Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford. His most famous work is The Concept of Law (1961; 3rd edition, 2012), which has been hailed as "the most important work of legal philosophy written in the twentieth century". He is considered one of the world's foremost legal philosophers in the twentieth century, alongside Hans Kelsen.
Hart was born in 1907, the son of Rose Samson Hart and Simeon Hart, in Harrogate, to which his parents had moved from the East End of London. His father was a prosperous Jewish tailor of German and Polish origin; his mother, of Polish origin, daughter of successful retailers in the clothing trade, handled customer relations and the finances of their firm. Hart had an elder brother, Albert, and a younger sister, Sybil.
Hart was educated at Cheltenham College, Bradford Grammar School and at New College, Oxford. He took a Congratulatory First in Classical Greats in 1929.
Hart became a barrister and practised successfully at the Chancery Bar from 1932 to 1940. He was good friends with Richard (later Lord) Wilberforce, Douglas Jay, and Christopher Cox, among others. He received a Harmsworth Scholarship to the Middle Temple and also wrote literary journalism for the periodical John O'London's Weekly.