The Definition of Law

Originally intended as an introduction to a larger, unfinished work, and published as a monograph in 1958, this volume contains the opinions of the great jurist Hermann Kantorowicz on various fundamental questions of law and the bounds of legal science. Kantorowicz considers the differences between law and morality and attempts to answer the question, 'What is law?'. This book will be of value to legal historians and anyone with an interest in legal sciences.

Preface A. H. Campbell; Introduction A. L. Goodhart; Part I. On Definitions in General: 1. The wrong method (verbal realism); 2. The right method (conceptual pragmatism); Part II. Definitions of Law: 1. Usefulness of a broad definition; 2. Some useless criteria; Part III. Law and Nature: 1. 'A body of rules'; 2. Rules and the 'ought'; 3. Dualism of facts and rules; 4. Collective habits; 5. Commands, precepts, dogmas; 6. Rights and duties: rules actualized; Part IV. Law and Morals: 1. Legal and moral rules; 2. Law: 'prescribing external conduct'; 3. Externality in justice and quasi-morality; Part V. Law 'Considered Justiciable': 1. Externality of social custom; 2. Alleged criteria of law and social custom; 3. Rationalization in law and social custom; 4. Judicial organs and definiteness of procedure; 5. Law: 'considered justiciable'; 6. Anthropological confirmation; 7. Border-line cases; Notes; Bibliography; Indexes.