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Central Elements

The question is this: Which concept of law is correct or adequate? An answer to the question turns on the relation of three elements to one another—authoritative issuance, social efficacy, and correctness of content.

Altogether differ­ent concepts of law emerge according to how the relative significance of these elements is assessed. Attaching no signifi­cance whatsoever to authoritative issuance and social efficacy, focusing exclusively on correctness of content, one arrives at a concept of law purely reflective of natural law or the law of reason. One arrives at a purely positivistic concept of law by ruling out correctness of content altogether and staking every­thing on authoritative issuance and/or social efficacy. Between these extremes, many intermediate forms are pos­sible.

The tripartite division indicates that positivism has two defining elements. A positivist must exclude the element of correctness of content, but then can define in many different ways the relation between the elements of authoritative issu­ance and social efficacy, giving rise to numerous variations of legal positivism. I look first al the differing versions and then criticize positivistic concepts of law as inadequate.

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Source: Alexy Robert. The Argument from Injustice: A Reply to Legal Positivism. Oxford University Press,2010. — 159 p.. 2010

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