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Summary
Summary
Niklas Luhmann is recognised as a major social theorist, and his treatise on the sociology of law is a classic text. For Luhmann, law provides the framework of the state, lawyers are the main human resource for the state, and legal theory provides the most suitable base from which to theorize on the nature of society. He explores the concept of law in the light of a general theory of social systems, showing the important part law plays in resolving fundamental problems a society may face. He then goes on to discuss in detail how modern 'positive' - as opposed to 'natural' - law comes to fulfil this function. The work as a whole is not only a contribution to legal sociology, but a major work in social theory. With a revised translation, and a new introduction by Martin Albrow.
Author Notes
Niklas Luhmann (1927-98) worked as a lawyer in Germany before becoming Professor of Sociology at the University of Bielefeld, where he taught for the rest of his career. He remains the most celebrated advocate of social systems theory.
Martin Albrow is currently Fellow at the Kate Hamburger Centre for Advanced Studies 'Law as Culture', University of Bonn and Guest Professor at the Beijing Foreign Studies University. He has an international reputation for his studies of globalization, especially for the prize winning book The Global Age (SUP, 1998).
Table of Contents
| Acknowledgements | p. vii |
| Editor's introduction | p. ix |
| Editor's preface | p. xli |
| Author's preface to the second edition | p. xlvi |
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| 1 Classical beginnings of the sociology of law | p. 9 |
| 2 The development of law: foundation of a sociological theory | p. 22 |
| 2.1 Complexity, contingency and expectation of expectations | p. 24 |
| 2.2 Cognitive and normative expectations | p. 31 |
| 2.3 Handling of disappointments | p. 40 |
| 2.4 Institutionalisation | p. 49 |
| 2.5 Identification of expectation contexts | p. 62 |
| 2.6 Law as congruent generalisation | p. 73 |
| 2.7 Law and physical violence | p. 83 |
| 2.8 Structure and deviant behaviour | p. 91 |
| 3 Law as structure of society | p. 103 |
| 3.1 The development of society and law | p. 103 |
| 3.2 Archaic law | p. 114 |
| 3.3 The law of pre-modern high cultures | p. 129 |
| 3.4 The positivisation of law | p. 147 |
| 4 Positive law | p. 159 |
| 4.1 Concept and function of positivity | p. 159 |
| 4.2 Differentiation and functional specification of law | p. 167 |
| 4.3 Conditional programming | p. 174 |
| 4.4 Differentiation of decision-making programmes | p. 179 |
| 4.5 Structural variation | p. 185 |
| 4.6 Risks and consequential problems of positivity | p. 193 |
| 4.7 Legitimacy | p. 199 |
| 4.8 The enforcement of positive law | p. 206 |
| 4.9 Control | p. 217 |
| 5 Social change through positive law | p. 227 |
| 5.1 The conditions for controllable social change | p. 230 |
| 5.2 Categorial structures | p. 249 |
| 5.3 Legal problems of global society | p. 255 |
| 5.4 Law, time and planning | p. 264 |
| Conclusion: questions for legal theory (first edition) | p. 274 |
| Conclusion: legal system and legal theory (second edition) | p. 281 |
| Notes | p. 289 |
| Select bibliography | p. 385 |
| Niklas Luhmann: complete list of published works | p. 398 |
| Index | p. 411 |
