Defeasibility and Open Texture

This chapter examines the connections between these three notions: philosophical open texture, Hartian open texture, and defeasibility in legal reasoning. Section A begins by exploring the origins of the idea of 'open texture'. Section B looks at the way the concept works within Hart's analysis, Section C offers a brief overview of defeasibility while Section D compares open texture with defeasibility. The primary conclusion is that Hartian open texture and defeasibility are, at best, only broadly analogous, in that both create circumstances in which judges have discretion to create new law or exceptions to existing law.