What is the legal rule at issue in the case of the Speluncean explorers?

The exact language of the statute is as follows: “Whoever shall willfully take the life of another shall be punished by death.” Now I should suppose that any candid observer, content to extract from these words their natural meaning, would concede at once that these defendants did “willfully take the life” of Roger …

How long were the Speluncean explorers trapped?

32 days
Ten workmen were killed in the rescue. In addition to the Society’s funds, it took an additional 800,000 ‘Frelars’ (ie, the currency of the Commonwealth of Newgarth) provided by popular subscription and legislative grant to rescue the explorers. After 32 days, they were rescued.

Do judges simply figure out and apply what the law already says?

Judges, through the rules of precedent, merely discover and declare the existing law and never make ‘new’ law. A judge makes a decision, ‘not according to his own private judgment, but according to the known laws and customs of the land; not delegated to pronounce a new law, but to maintain and expound the old one’.

Who was the author of the Speluncean Explorers case?

The famous fictitious legal case was created by Lon L Fuller in his article “ The case of the Speluncean Explorers”. In this case, his five Supreme Court Justices tranquilly but rigorously show the complexity of the facts and the flexibility of legal reasoning.

How is Lord Devlin’s philosophy applied in Speluncean Explorers case?

However, the question asks to apply Lord Devlin’s philosophy in relation to the case of the ‘Speluncean Explorers’. This is a very complex case and the application of Lord Devlin’s philosophy ‘the enforcement of morals’ will be relatively hard. The Law interpretation of the case:

Why was the Speluncean Explorers Outside the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth?

Foster J holds that the explorers were outside the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth: ‘If we look to the purposes of law and government, and to the premises underlying our positive law, these men when they made their fateful decision were as remote from our legal order as if they had been a thousand miles beyond our boundaries.’

What did the Chief Justice say in the Speluncean case?

The Chief Justice states that the statute is unambiguous, with no applicable legal defences, so it must be applied by the court. He adds that granting mercy is a decision for the executive branch of government to make, rather than the judiciary.

What is the legal rule at issue in the case of the Speluncean explorers? The exact language of the statute is as follows: “Whoever shall willfully take the life of another shall be punished by death.” Now I should suppose that any candid observer, content to extract from these words their natural meaning, would concede…