The regulation of the embryo and legislative proposals : ad hoc legislation or reform of the civil code?

Abstract

According to old maxims of classification of functions, the positivist jurist is called to render in general terms, in the abstract and by adding enforceability, the directives bestowed upon him by politicians, economists, sociologists, philosophers, etc. However it has long been recognised by social scientists, into whose ranks one may also place the positivist jurist, that the role of the jurist is not one of a mere translator or spectator, but a partner in the identification of values and their hierarchy as well as in decision making. Yet, as against other social scientists, the jurist knows that when an issue of values is translated into rights, the same issue assumes a new dimension: it is no longer a fertile field of debate and criticism within the indefinite process of the discovery of truth or of truths, but becomes the basis of law which is binding on the society which has adopted it. Therefore the jurist cannot keep aloof from nor ignore the debate on values.