main library of Uppsala University, Carolina rediviva, shows his predilection to begin any expositions of law, legal thought, and jurisprudence where a problem or issue has its historical genesis. When required, he even ventures back to the dawn of time, which to him quite often meant starting with Greek antiquity, the ideas and literature of which he was well acquainted3 and made great use of in his works.4 Indeed, no aspect of Greek or Roman thought seems to have been alien to him. It is significant that his expositions are never concluded until he has proved, elucidated, and reconnected forgotten or unclear links between past and present, thus, as has been observed,“… following step by step the transmission into modern times of those legal elements which he denominates as mystical or magical.”5 Hägerström’s accounts and analyses usually have a philosophical point of departure, but practical issues such as the doctrine of sources, canons of interpretation, the origins, and content of law are usually not far away and are dealt with alongside penetrating analyses of the philosophical and ideological genesis of such things as Greek public law or Hegel’s penal theory.6 A typical example of the historical method that he applied can be found in Till frågan om den objektiva rättens begrepp I (1917) - “On the Question of the Notion of Law” (1953) - where he analyzes the fundamentals of the modern will-theory of legal positivism, testing its validity against different legal systems of the past. In “Naturrätt i straffrättsvetenskapen?” (1920), Hägerström analyzes modern penal jurisprudence by reference to Roman law of obligations and debts (Swedish: fordringsrätt), and Kantian categories as well as penal theory. In “Nehrman-Ehrenstråles uppfattning av grunden för ett löftes bindande kraft …” (1934) -Recht, Pflicht und bindende Kraft des Vertrages: nach Römischer und Naturrechtlicher Anschauung (1965) - a ca l l f o r s c i e n t i f i c p u r i t y 293 3 Olivecrona,“Editor’s Preface,”in Inquiries into the Nature of Law and Morals, pp. xii-xiii. 4 Pennock, review of Hägerström,Axel: Inquiries Into the Nature of Law and Morals, Columbia Law Review LIII (1953): p. 1027. 5 Ibid. 6 See, e.g., Hägerström, “Straffrättsteoriernas historia och kritik (VT1921).”
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