Judges sometimes hear cases in which the law, as they honestly understand it, requires results that they consider morally objectionable. Most people assume that, nevertheless, judges have an ethical obligation to apply the law correctly, at least in reasonably just legal systems. Combining ethical theory with discussions of case law, Jeffrey Brand-Ballard challenges arguments for the traditional view, including arguments from the fact that judges swear oaths to uphold the law, arguments from our duty to obey the law, and many others. He then develops an alternative argument based on ways in which the rule of law promotes the good, broadly conceived.
