Public and Private Ordering and the Production of Legitimate and Illegitimate Legal Rules

Abstract

Among the oldest questions in legal philosophy are those asking where law comes from and what makes it legitimate. Central to this discussion is the distinction between law as a legitimate source of social ordering and law as an illegitimate demonstration of raw state power. The purpose of this Article is not to contribute to the important debate about what makes law legitimate or illegitimate. Rather, the purpose of the Article is to make three observations about legal rules that, I believe, will shed some light on the issue of the nature of law.