cept (as such a practice, for instance, leads to the unfortunate result that public international law ceases to be law, on account of the fact that jurists do not recognize this area of law as being an already existing area of law, and so forth). And finally, that the concept of law cannot constitute a definition a priori normative as to what may constitute law, as law is not a substance providing its own definition, but a function of what we (to be more specific, jurists) accept and treat as binding norms. Hägerström’s intention was to embark upon an unprejudiced investigation of the concept of law based upon what one usually designates as being positive law in order to establish a definition of this fact. And if this investigation necessitates that the legal material must be split in half, or be brought together with other phenomena, then this only demonstrates that the commonly accepted formation of concepts is unscientific.216 Furthermore, it is an observable and typical characteristic of Hägerström to perform his conceptual analysis at any expense. The fact that an investigated concept is time-honored or commonly accepted has no relevance when it comes to determining the scientific character of the investigated concept.217 In an early attempt to define a legal right, a subjective right, Hägerström defines it as a reflex, the correlate to a duty, because the right entails that the free will, the freedom, of another subject is restrained.Accordingly, Hägerström’s concept of right is negatively defined, as is typical of Kantian jurisprudence. A person has a right, if, and only if, some other person is placed under an obligation (a legal restriction) not to act in a manner that contravenes the interests of that privileged person, the holder of the right.218 A subjective right is a determination belonging to the a ca l l f o r s c i e n t i f i c p u r i t y 445 216 Ibid., p. 24. 217 Hägerström, Kants Ethik, pp. iv-v. 218 Hägerström, Stat och rätt, pp. 153-160. 4 . 6 rights and dut i e s (1904)
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