Legal Positivism
The existence and content of law ultimately depend on social sources.
What it claims
Legal positivism explains law ultimately through social facts. A rule’s legal status does not by itself establish its moral merit or a duty to obey it. Hart rejects reducing law to commands backed by threats and instead describes a union of primary rules governing conduct and secondary rules of recognition, change, and adjudication.
Nearby positions
Opposed to
Key thinkers
H. L. A. Hart · Hans Kelsen · Joseph Raz · Jeremy Bentham · John Austin