After Conceptual Analysis

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1、AfterConceptualAnalysis:TheRiseofPracticeTheoryDennisPattersonGeneraljurisprudenceisthestudyofthemostgeneralfeaturesoflaw.Thetraditionofanalyticjurisprudence–onethatspansfromHobbestoColeman–hasexhibitedasustainedfocusonidentifyingtheconstitutivefeaturesoflaw.Forsometime,thisquestionhasb

2、eenframedasthesearchfortheessentialornecessaryfeaturesoftheconceptof‘law’.Butalookatthetraditionrevealsthatthisisonlyoneofanumberofwaysoflookingatlawfromasimilarvantagepoint.Thatvantagepointorperspectivefocusesonthestructureoflaw.Foravarietyofreasons,thisfocusischangingandanewquestionis

3、emerging.Thisessayiswrittenatatimewhenthefieldofanalyticjurisprudenceisinastateofflux.Forthelastseveraldecades,debatehascentredaroundevaluatingandrespondingtoRonaldDworkin’scritiquesofpositivism.Whilethereare(andnodoubtwillcontinuetobe)philosopherswithaninterestinthesequestions,discus-sio

4、ninthefieldismovingtoothertopics.Oneofthesetopicsisthefocusofthisessay.Statedingeneralterms,myinterestliesinexplicatingtheideaoflawasacertainsortofpractice.Theideaoflawasa‘practice’isintuitivelyobvious.Lawisaniterativeenterprisewherepractitionersmakeclaimsovertimeinformsthatrepeatthemsel

5、ves,albeitinsometimesunfamiliarways.Afeatureoflaw’siterativecharac-teristhatthepracticeisconductedinconcertwithothers.Inasense,practitionersoflaware‘together’intheenterprise.Whatdoesitmeantosaythatlawissomethingwedo‘together’?JohnAustin’sviewofthenatureoflawdominatedAnglo-Saxonjurisprud

6、entialthinkingfromthenineteenthtowellintothetwentiethcentury.Famously,Austinregardedalawasanorderbackedbythreatofsanctionfornoncompliance.Oneimportant,additionalfactorwasthatthethreatissuedfroma‘sovereign’.Takentogether,theseelementsbecametheso-called‘CommandTheoryofLaw’.Theviewmetitsen

7、dinaworkthatisstillregardedasthemostimportantworkoflegaltheoryintheAnglo-Americantradition,H.L.A.Hart’sTheConceptofLaw.1D.Patterson(B)RutgersUniversitySchoolofLaw,Camden,USe-mail:dpatters@camden.rutgers.edu1H.L.A.Hart,TheConceptofLaw,2ndedition(Oxford1994;1stedition1961).J.C.Ha