subject itself to the rules of private law and the jurisdiction of the courts of law.178 Since this line of thought implies that the state is principally unbound by law, it also implies that law is founded upon the physical power of the state alone. In reality, facts are more complicated than this, because the physical power of the state depends upon, as well as being a function of an existing organization of force, an organization that in turn depends upon the rules that govern that organization’s own existence. (Cf. the legal construction of a private juridical person). If, for the sake of argument, one eliminates the rules governing the organization of the state, then one simultaneously eliminates the basis of the power of the state, whereupon the state ceases to be a power to reckon with - it ceases even to exist.179To Hägerström, the idea that it is the state that upholds the law originates from a logical error, because in reality it is the law, a system of rules of social coexistence, that creates and maintains the power of the state.180 It is thus safe to conclude that Hägerström, like Kelsen, considers the law to be fundamental to the foundation of state authority.181 What Hägerström thus illustrates is that state and law are interdependent categories as well as correlative concepts. Hägerström’s conclusion is merely that the relationship between law and state is a sociological phenomenon far more complicated than can be decided through arbitrary speculations a priori awarding one side or the other with normative supremacy, as well as factual priority, without any corroborating evidence. In fact, Häp a r t v, c h a p t e r 3 348 178 Hägerström,“Är gällande rätt?,” pp. 72-77;“Is Positive Law?,” pp. 30-35;“Förhållandet mellan staten och rätten (1924),” p. 220. 179 Hägerström, “Förhållandet mellan staten och rätten (1924),” pp. 240-241. 180 Ibid., p. 241. See also Hägerström, “Är gällande rätt?,” pp. 71-74; “Is Positive Law?,” pp. 29-33. 181 Cf. Hägerström, Magistratische Ius, p. 1.While Kelsen actually describes the relationship between state and law as a relationship of identity, he nevertheless makes law a prerequisite for the state authority. Hägerström argues along similar avenues when he shows the interdependence between law and state.The state cannot exist without law, but, on the other hand, the law depends upon the state for the implementation of the former.
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