The Three Uses of the Law
This chapter analyses the contribution that the theological doctrine of the uses of the law has made to Western jurisprudence. Sixteenth-century Protestants derived "civil," "theological," and "educational" uses from the moral or natural law. Later generations of Protestants on both sides of the Atlantic elaborated and refined this doctrine in an effort to balance their understanding of the various purposes of law and order in church, state, family, and other structures of authority. In particular, they saw that the three uses of the moral law had strong analogues in the "deterrent," "retributive," and "rehabilitative" purposes of criminal law articulated by early modern jurists and moralists. This chapter argues that a stronger grasp of the uses of the law doctrine and its importance in modern jurisprudence can teach us how to develop a more integrated understanding of criminal law and punishment and perhaps other areas of law as well.