Austins Command Theory of Law

1
Austins Command Theory of Law

• (1) Law is the Command of a sovereign, which is
  backed by a threat of sanction for
  non-compliance.
• (2) X is a sovereign within a community iff
• (a) the bulk of the community is in the habit of
  obedience or submission to x
• (b) x is not in the habit of obedience to any
  other person or group of persons

2
Austins Distinctions Between the Kinds of Law in
Lecture I of The Province of Jurisprudence
Determined

(1) Commands from one sovereign to another (2)
Commands outside political society (3) Commands
w/in political society, but not in pursuance of
legal rights (4) laws that are not commands
(e.g. declarations, repeals, imperfect laws)
Laws set by sovereigns for their subjects (x is a
sovereign iff the bulk of the population is in
the habit of obedience to x, and x is not in the
habit of obedience to anyone else)