The Law in Quest of Itself

Reprint of the first and only edition. Originally Beacon Press, 1966. [vi], 150 pp. (Beacon Series in Classics of the Law). Reprinted 1999, 2012 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. Three lectures by the Harvard Law School professor examine legal positivism and natural law. In the course of his analysis Fuller discusses Kelsen's theory as a reactionary theory, and Hobbes' theory of sovereignty. He defines legal positivism as the viewpoint that draws a distinction "between the law that is and the law that ought to be..." (p.5) and interprets natural law as that which tolerates a combination of the two. He looks at the effects of positivism's continued influence on American legal thinking and concludes that law as a principle of order is necessary in a democracy.