Sanctions: An Essential Element of Law? (Law and Philosophy Library #149)

By: Frederick Schauer and Christoph Bezemek and Nicoletta Bersier

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Synopsis: The volume is dedicated to the concept of sanctions and to the reassessment of its interrelation with the concept of law. It does not seem that long ago that &“law&” and &“sanctions&” were thought of as necessarily interrelated. &“Every Law is a command&”, we read in Austin&’s &‘Province of Jurisprudence Determined&’; a particular command, however, in &“that the party to whom it is directed is liable to evil from the other, in case he [does not] comply&”. And &“[t]he evil which will probably be incurred in case a command be disobeyed […] is frequently called a sanction&”. H. L. A. Hart&’s critique of Austin&’s &“command theory of law&” successfully drove a wedge into the interrelation of &“law and &“sanctions&”; so successful, in fact, that it caused some scholars to part with the idea of &“force&” underlying the concept of law altogether and others to emphatically protest what they perceived as a rash move to discard one of the core elements of law. The debate still is on.