Austin

Austin is associated with a theory called legal positivism. Legal positivism is diametrically
opposed to natural law theory. Legal positivists reject natural laws, which they see as vague and
metaphysical. Legal positivists, like scientific positivists, believe that the law is a social
phenomenon that can be studied scientifically.

Legal positivists believe:

(1) That law is a social convention created solely by human beings.
(2) That these conventional laws must be understood as separate from morality. That is, the
validity of a conventional law is not related to whether the law is a morally good law.

Page numbers of the answers are in parentheses below.

1. What do you think the Austin means by “political superiors?” (2)

2. What does Austin mean by “positive morality?” (3)
3. How does Austin describe the meaning of the word “command?” (5)
4. Why is “being liable to evil” important? (6)
5. How can one judge the efficacy of a command? (7)
6. What does Austin mean by “right” at the bottom of page 8?
7. Why are command, duty, and sanction inseparably connected? (9)
8. What does it mean to oblige generally? (10)
9. Why is an act which displeases the sovereign and leads to punishment not a law? (12)
10. What does Austin mean by superiority? (16)
11. What is an imperfect obligation? (20)
12. Why is Austin suspicious of customary law? (24)