Work · Analytic Philosophy
Inquiries into the Nature of Law and Morals
English selection of his writings on law, edited by Karl Olivecrona and translated by C. D. Broad: rights, duties and the binding force of law are analysed as ideas with roots in magic and religion, not as real forces.
Introduction
This volume, published in 1953 in Uppsala and London, made Hägerström’s legal philosophy available in English. Karl Olivecrona, his most prominent juristic follower, selected the texts, and the Cambridge philosopher C. D. Broad translated them and wrote a preface. The essays analyse the notions of right, duty and the binding force of law and argue that they correspond to no real forces; their roots lie in magical ideas found in early Roman law, which have survived in modern legal thinking. Other pieces criticise the will theory of law and the idea of natural law. The book became the main point of entry to Scandinavian legal realism for English-speaking readers.
Connections
Builds on
- On the Truth of Moral Ideas1911 · Axel Hägerström
Taken up in
- On Law and Justice1953 · Alf Ross
More works by Axel Hägerström
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