The Nature of the General Theory of Law

Abstract

The present paper is intended to ascertain the problem of the nature of the general theory of law, is it an emanation of the philosophy of law or is it just one of the legal sciences with the only difference that it does not study a branch of the law, but the law in its entirety? It is our opinion that the general theory of law is a positivist science which has objective law as exclusive object of study and that it is part of the category of legal sciences (in opposition with the auxiliary sciences studied in law school – legal sociology, legal philosophy, criminology, criminalistics, forensic medicine, etc.). Nevertheless, the total elimination of contributions from other sciences (sociology, politology, economy, philosophy, etc.) would only unjustifiably emasculate the explanations of the general theory of law.

Keywords

• general theory of law
• science of law
• philosophy of law
• positive law