HART’S ‘CONCEPT OF LAW’ AND AUSTIN

Abstract

Herbert Lionel Adolphus Hart (1907-92) was a British philosopher and was also a professor of Jurisprudence at University of Oxford. Before World War II, he practiced law for nine years as a chancery barrister before associating himself with the British War Office where he remained till World War II. His most important writings included Causation in the Law (1959, with A.M. Honoré), The Concept of Law (1961), Of Laws in General (1970), Law, Liberty and Morality (1963) and Essays on Bentham (1982).  The Concept of Law is considered to be a notable and an acclaimed contribution to the study of legal philosophy and jurisprudence. It has had far reaching effects not only on jurisprudence but also on political and moral theory. This book is an essential read for philosophers and lawyers throughout the world who want a better understanding of the philosophical basis of law. 

In his book The Concept of Law, Hart has analysed the relation between law, coercion, and morality, and has also attempted to clarify the question of whether all laws may be properly conceptualized as coercive orders or as moral commands. Hart says that there is no logically necessary connection between law and coercion or between law and morality. He explains that to classify all laws as coercive orders or as moral commands is to oversimplify the relation between law, coercion, and morality. Imposing a misleading appearance of uniformity on different kinds of laws and on different kinds of social functions which law may perform should be done in order to conceptualize all laws as coercive orders or as moral commands. He argues that to describe all laws as coercive orders is to mischaracterize the purpose and function of some laws and is to misunderstand their content, mode of origin, and range of application.