ABSTRACT
The selection and application of relevant valid rules to disputes and allegations involves a variety of skills, both in relation to the determination of matters of fact and with respect to the understanding of rules, including rules for· selecting valid laws. While the realities of ill-formec:i legal systems make a degree of judicial innovation and creativity inevitable, a central purpose of Positivism is to cir-. cumscribe the pretensions of judging and judges which are fostered by the more grandiose term 'legal reasoning~, with its implied invitation to expansive styles of open-ended practical reason. To this end, LEP involves the articulation of a normative model of judicial application which establishes the rule~ and procedures that ought to be adopted in the identification, interpretation and application of laws.1 In the case of LEP, this normativ~ model rests on the presupposed political ideal of a system of rules which are identifiable, discrete, clear, comprehensive, consistent and applicable without re.cour:se to disputed value judgments or untestable factual assumptions. Such an ideal system does not routinely require complex or innovative interpretations in the procedures for identifying and applying valid law.2 .
