as well as the binding power of legislation and other acts of state law-making.32 (See also Part VII, Chapter 2.2.2.1.) All in all, the specific subjective rights and duties of natural law constitute metaphysical powers that reside in the supernatural man, a power held to be identical to actual power, and by means of which the claims of one legal subject can be exerted over another.33 However, the legal power of natural law only exists beyond the natural realm, which necessitates that such powers in reality are ideal 34 and, strictly speaking, lie outside the domains of science proper, which is a discourse that should only concern itself with the real. Accordingly, as science deals with reality, the so-called scientific study of natural law must be abandoned. In the lecture series De socialistiska idéernas historia (held1908-1909, and published posthumously in 1946), Hägerström analyzed the roots of socialism with reference to different notions of law and justice, effectively comparing the history of socialistic ideas with that of natural law. In this work there are several interesting observations on notions of justice that help explain Hägerström’s opinion of the possibility of natural law - both in its capacity of an independently existing object and as an object for knowledge and scientific inquiries. In short, Hägerström’s lectures in De socialistiska idéernas historia can be used to sum up his critique of natural law theory (a critique that also serves as a partial illumination of his general theory of law). Hägerström’s line of argument is this:The ideas presented as law by natural theoreticians are nothing less than ideology in the disguise of law.35 Natural law with its notions of p a r t v, c h a p t e r 1 302 32 See, e.g., ibid., pp. 201-230. 33 Ibid., pp. 201-220; Hägerström, “Naturrätt?,” passim. 34 See, e.g., Hägerström,“Är gällande rätt uttryck av vilja?,” inRätten och viljan: två uppsatser ånyo utg. av Karl Olivecrona, pp. 59-60;“Is Positive Law an Expression ofWill?,” in Inquiries into the Nature of Law and Morals: Axel Hägerström, pp. 17-18; “Begreppet viljeförklaring,” pp. 99-100; “Declaration of Intention,” pp. 299-300. 35 Hägerström, De socialistiska idéernas historia, pp. 26-30. 1. 3. 1 reasons for the cri t ique of natural law
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