Abstract
A non-coercive legal system is ‘humanly impossible but logically possible’.Footnote1 This has, roughly, been the orthodox view about ‘law and coercion’ in analytical jurisprudence since the 1960s. However, recent years have proven to be difficult for this view. Only a few years ago, for instance, Frederick Schauer argued in The Force of Law that the orthodox view is tied to what he thinks is a shaky philosophical methodology; namely, a search for necessary truths about the nature of law.Footnote2 Once this methodological approach is rejected – Schauer claims – the orthodox view loses most of its appeal as it seems unable to explain the centrality and importance of coercion to our legal systems.