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The Forces of Law: Duty, Coercion, and Power
Author(s) -
Green Leslie
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
ratio juris
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.344
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 1467-9337
pISSN - 0952-1917
DOI - 10.1111/raju.12122
Subject(s) - coercion (linguistics) , stipulation , jurisprudence , law , duty , power (physics) , law and economics , sociology , political science , philosophy , physics , linguistics , quantum mechanics
This paper addresses the relationship between law and coercive force. It defends, against Frederick Schauer's contrary claims, the following propositions: (a) The force of law consists in three things, not one: the imposition of duties, the use of coercion, and the exercise of social power. These are different and distinct. (b) Even if coercion is not part of the concept of law, coercion is connected to law many important ways, and these are amply recognized in contemporary analytic jurisprudence. (c) We cannot determine how important coercion is to the efficacy of law until we know what counts as coercive force. The question of what counts as coercion is not a matter for generalization or stipulation. It requires an explanation of the concept of coercion.