Law: The Impact Of Karl Marx On Law

Karl Marx on Law Karl Marx was perhaps the most prominent and influential philosopher of the 19th century. His social, economic, and political theories, collectively known as Marxism, have had a significant impact on numerous intellectuals, labor unions, and political parties throughout history. Certain countries such as Russia, China, and Cuba are just a few of which that have adopted Marx 's ideals. Marx was born on May 5th, 1818 in Prussia (modern-day Germany). Karl Marx was a philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and most notably a revolutionary socialist. He was considered to be far ahead of his time and believed that without philosophy, nothing could be accomplished. Marx studied law, history, and philosophy at …show more content…
During Marx 's years at the university in Berlin, the ideals and works of Hegel were widely popular within philosophical discourse. Marx spent a great deal of time in his early career adopting as well as critiquing the views of Hegel. Perhaps his most famous criticism was his critique of Hegel 's Philosophy of Right. Here we see Marx 's view differ greatly from that of Hegel in regards to the Prussian Constitutional Monarchy. Hegel was known to be an idealist while Marx was more of a materialist. Marx opposed Hegel’s view of formalism on the grounds that the ideal state does not in fact reflect the will of the people. Marx also argues against the level of importance Hegel places upon a particular state’s constitution. Marx believed that the constitution from which a state derives its laws has a tendency to fall behind man’s natural progression. “The constitution itself, Marx argues, should not be treated apart from its human origins. It is not the constitution that creates people but the people that create the constitution. A constitution produced by past consciousness can become an oppressive shackle for a consciousness which has progressed”(Democracy 72). Marx and Hegel also had different views regarding representation. Marx felt that Hegel’s theory of representation had the officials upon election gain a new sense of power where instead of representing the will of the people …show more content…
For example, the law of gravity, which is commonly known as the cause of the weight of physical objects. The term law in this sense means that a specific outcome will take place granted certain conditions are met. The notion of law which I am concerned with is defined as a rule or norm that sets some specific action or avoidance of an action. This definition of law carries with it two separate categories, natural law and positive law. Natural law is the theory that human laws are derived by non-changing principles that regulate the natural world and human beings can come to understand these laws by way of reason. These laws can not be limited and are put in place for the well-being of individuals. On the other hand, there is positive law which is a theory that law is a set of rules formulated by the state and that citizens are obliged to obey the law for the good of society as a whole. In relation to Marx, he opposed the theory of natural law. He believed that natural law was to blame for the inequality between the working class and the wealthy class. Marx and Engels demonstrated through the Communist Manifesto the various problems within the capitalist system. They believed that human society has always been divided into social classes. “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles”(Marx 79). Before the Industrial Revolution, Marx describes the social class system as having the working