The Case of the Speluncean Explorers : Interpretation of the Contracts
The Case of the Speluncean Explorers: Interpretation of the Contracts
Tang Jun
I
Lon Fuller’s The Case of the Speluncean Explorers is a hypothetical case, a thought experiment composed of perfect scenarios presenting jurisprudence of different schools. The 14 judges argue against each other with various legal grounds to acquit or convict the defendants. Their disputes dominantly focus on three points. The first issue is whether or not a judge should discriminately apply the letters of the law, and whether or not discretion is allowed in order to achieve legal purpose. Then comes to the dispute about if contract theory can stand in this case and how this contract should be understood. The third point lies in necessity defense which some judges hold to acquit the defendants. In light of the history of Newgarth and the peculiar context in the explorers’ story, contract theory stands out among all these disputes.
The plots in this case are so well organized as to satisfy all possible legal discussion. The most fundamental elements in this case are summarized as follows: 1. This state was founded by survivors after a natural calamity, the Great Spiral, based on a social contract. 2. Five explorers including the killed Roger Wetmore were caught in a cave with insufficient food to sustain them until rescue. And their health condition and the environment had been thoroughly assessed by experts outside. Those five explorers consulted if they could kill a person for food, but received no advice. 3. It was Roger Wetmore that initially proposed that they tossed to decide who should be killed for food. Before enforcement, Wetmore changed his mind, suggested to postpone the plan aforesaid but encountered the objection of the rest four explorers, one of which eventually tossed on behalf of Wetmore with his acquiescence.
II
Tang Jun
I
Lon Fuller’s The Case of the Speluncean Explorers is a hypothetical case, a thought experiment composed of perfect scenarios presenting jurisprudence of different schools. The 14 judges argue against each other with various legal grounds to acquit or convict the defendants. Their disputes dominantly focus on three points. The first issue is whether or not a judge should discriminately apply the letters of the law, and whether or not discretion is allowed in order to achieve legal purpose. Then comes to the dispute about if contract theory can stand in this case and how this contract should be understood. The third point lies in necessity defense which some judges hold to acquit the defendants. In light of the history of Newgarth and the peculiar context in the explorers’ story, contract theory stands out among all these disputes.
The plots in this case are so well organized as to satisfy all possible legal discussion. The most fundamental elements in this case are summarized as follows: 1. This state was founded by survivors after a natural calamity, the Great Spiral, based on a social contract. 2. Five explorers including the killed Roger Wetmore were caught in a cave with insufficient food to sustain them until rescue. And their health condition and the environment had been thoroughly assessed by experts outside. Those five explorers consulted if they could kill a person for food, but received no advice. 3. It was Roger Wetmore that initially proposed that they tossed to decide who should be killed for food. Before enforcement, Wetmore changed his mind, suggested to postpone the plan aforesaid but encountered the objection of the rest four explorers, one of which eventually tossed on behalf of Wetmore with his acquiescence.
II
References: Hobbes, Thomas. Hobbes ' Leviathan. London: Oxford Univeristy Press, 1909. Locke, John. Two Treatises on Civil Government. London: George Routledge and Sons, 2003. Macintyre, Alasdair. A Short History of Ethics: A History of Moral Philosophy from the Homeric Age to the Twentieth Century. Indiana: Univ of Notre Dame Pr, 1998. RousseauJean-Jacques. The Works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Social Contract, Confessions, Emile, and Other Essays . Texas: Halcyon Press Ltd, 2009. Suber, P. The Case of the Speluncean Explorers: Nine New Opinions. New York :Routledge, 1998. -------------------------------------------- [ 2 ]. Peter Suber, The Case of the Speluncean Explorers: Nine New Opinions, Routledge (December 10, 1998) [ 3 ]. This writing sample originally is an assignment (a reading report) of Jurisprudence, which principally focuses on contract theory in the aforesaid book.