(This is an archived page, from the Patterns of Power Edition 3 book. Current versions are at book contents).
There are many ways of defining the word ‘law’. The Shorter Oxford Dictionary describes it as:
“The body of rules, whether formally enacted or customary, which a particular State or community recognizes as governing the actions of its subjects or members and which it may enforce by imposing penalties”.
This definition reflects John Austin's 19th-century positivist view of the law as "an order backed by threats”.[1] It requires at least the following:
• The rules have to be defined before they can be applied to a particular case: one cannot break a law that doesn't exist.
• The rules have to be promulgated: preferably written.
• Some means of enforcement is required: either crime prevention or a realistic possibility of catching those who break the law.
• Penalties have to be available: e.g. imprisonment.
Austin's definition is used in this book, but with modifications proposed by later writers, notably H.L.A. Hart and Ronald Dworkin.
[1] H.L.A. Hart, The Concept of Law, p. 6, used these words to describe the position taken by Austin in The Province of Jurisprudence Determined, Lecture 1, p. 13 (originally published in 1832).