"Heroes of the Law", a lecture by professor Hans Petter Graver

The leading British legal philosopher H.L.A. Hart, stated in his influential book The Concept of Law:

"What surely is most needed in order to make men clear sighted in confronting the official abuse of power, is that they should preserve the sense that the certification of something as legally valid is not conclusive of the question of obedience, and that, however great the aura of majesty or authority which the official system may have, its demands must in the end be submitted to moral scrutiny."

We never know when our protection by the law depends on judges of integrity and conscience, who exercise such moral scrutiny to stand up for the rule of law. Most judges bend to power and popular opinion. Fortunately, there are exceptions. Even in Nazi Germany there were judges who refused to bend and who tried to modify the excesses of the regime. In this lecture, professor Graver defines the concept of a judicial hero and argues for the importance of studying their stories because they show by their examples that it is possible to go against the flow, even within such a disciplining institution as the law.

For further reading see: Hans Petter Graver, Valiant Judges, Iniquitous Law Thirteen Stories of Heroes of the Law, Routledge 2024  https://www.routledge.com/Valiant-Judges-Iniquitous-Law-Thirteen-Stories-of-Heroes-of-the-Law/Graver/p/book/9781032497600#:~:text=Description,than%20blindly%20following%20the%20law.