Break the Law Lovingly: Legal Positivism and King's Letter from a Birmingham City Jail

• In Event: The Language of Rights and the Law

Brief Overview

King's Letter is frequently cited as a preeminent example of natural law theory in action. This paper makes the case that central arguments deployed by Dr. King are as indebted to positivist legal theory as to natural law.

Author

• Edward W. Gimbel, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater