Authority: H.L.A. Hart and the Problem with Legal Positivism

The major claim in this paper is that there is a distinct ambiguity in the way in which H. L. A. Hart employs the concept of authority in his account of the nature of law. It is a flaw in Hart’s thesis that surprisingly few philosophers of law have detected. Perhaps this is because they share his view that the concept of authority is inherent in the very idea of law. The results of my research suggest that their view might be mistaken.

Volume 4, Number 3 (1980)