Austin's model of law

Austin holds a positivist conception of law. According to him, law is a general command of a sovereign. There are two crucial components in his definition of law. First, a sovereign is a body of society who delivers command but has no need to abbey others. It is seen A's the pedigree or source of legitimacy of law. Second, the command given by a sovereign must be in a general sense, that is, the command must be valid for all. It is opposite to particular command that is effective in particular situation. But there is also doubt about the existence of particular command and it is claimed that any so called particular commands are also general commands. They are general in the sense that they are effective to some class of action or person.

Austin, A's a positivist, deny the necessary connection between law and morality. The legitimacy of law does not depends on whether the content of law is morally good or bad but on the source where it originates, that is, the sovereign delivering the command. A command is the expression of a wish backed up by a sanction. A sanction is supposed to be against evil of desire. Do not murder. This is a command which must be complied because it is delivered by a sovereign. Once some one destroys it, she will be sanctioned. The duty of not murdering is imposed by the command. So, we call it duty-imposing rules.

Hart, though A's a positivist, has criticism against Austin. He develops a kind of power-conferring rules which is excluded by Austin's model. For example, getting married is also a legal issue but the law does not command everyone to get married. It applies to you only when you choose to get married. Some say that the nullity or invalidity of particular conduct is also a sanction. If one do not sign contract, the contract will be invalid and the desired goal will not be realized without protection of law. But nullify need not be an evil or undesirable. Some may welcome the nullity of marriage. Not all desirable thing are necessarily sanction. For example, to relieve the pain of my teeth, I go to have a dental surgery. The pain of surgery is not a sanction because of my intention.