The Concept and Validity of Law

“The subject matter of this book is the relationship between law and morality. Legal positivism maintains that the two can be separated. According to it, both the concept of law and the concept of the validity of law are to be defined independently of morality. I shall attempt to show that this thesis is false. First, there are conceptually necessary connections between law and morality; second, normative reasons speak in favour of defining the concepts of law and legal validity in such a way as to include moral elements. For this reason, legal positivism, as a theory of law aspiring to encompass its subject matter in its entirety, must fail.”Author: Robert Alexy