Legalism (Western philosophy)

{{Short description|Ethical attitude}}

Legalism, in the Western sense, is the ethical attitude that holds moral conduct as a matter of rule following.{{cite book |last=Shklar |first=Judith N. |author-link=Judith N. Shklar |date=1986 |title=Legalism: Law, Morals, and Political Trials |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qQfVDna_gmgC&q=legalism&pg=PA1 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=1 |isbn=0-674-52351-2}} It is an approach to the analysis of legal questions characterized by abstract logical reasoning focusing on the applicable legal text, such as a constitution, legislation, or case law, rather than on the social, economic, or political context. Legalism has occurred both in civil and common law traditions. It underlines both natural law and legal positivism.{{cite news |last=West |first=Robin |author-link=Robin West |date=2003 |title=Reconsidering Legalism |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/mnlr88&div=13&id=&page= |work=Minnesota Law Review |volume=88 |page=119 |access-date=10 July 2020 |archive-url= |archive-date=}} In its narrower versions, legalism may endorse the notion that the preexisting body of authoritative legal materials already contains a uniquely predetermined right answer to any legal problem that may arise.

Legalism typically also claims that the task of the judge is to ascertain the answer to a legal question by an essentially mechanical process rather than some Schmittian modality of sovereignty.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}