Prudentialism is a

moral A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. A ...

principle based on precautionary principles that are acting to avoid a particular negative effect. For example, acting in

self-defence Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in ...

or, indeed, pre-emptive attacks on "rogue" states. Prudentialism is also a philosophy of

constitutional interpretation A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

that considers laws and powers from a pragmatic viewpoint. According to government scholar John E. Finn, prudentialism "counsels judges to avoid setting broad rules for future cases and offers a particular understanding of the limited role courts should play in a constitutional democracy."

References

Ethical principles Theories of law {{ethics-stub