determining what valid law ordains.This practical aim is the simple determination of the extent to which the application of a specific coercive measure, as prescribed by positive law, can be regarded as being legal.534 Consequently, the positive task of the jurist, both the judge and the legal scholar, is to determine whether or not a decision to apply force is legally conclusive. In “On the Question of the Notion of Law” (Till frågan om den objektiva rättens begrepp,1917) and its preamble,“Is Positive Law an Expression ofWill?” (1953 translation of “Är gällande rätt uttryck av vilja?”1916), Hägerström carried out extensive analyses of the problems regarding the unclear relationship between the concepts of both positive and valid law, and the dogmatic fiction of the perfect and faultless legal order. He tackled these problems by analyzing the will-theory of law and the theory’s recognition of the legislator’s will as being the linchpin holding the entire legal order together.535 This role of linchpin, which the fictional will of the legislator was accorded on account of the will-theory’s designation of the legislator’s or sovereign’s will as being the ultimate cause and origin of statute law as well the theory’s recognition of the legislator’s will, is, according to theory, furthermore the guiding principle for legal interpretation.536 In “Is Positive Law an Expression of Will?” Hägerström also analyzed the fact that the will-theory recognized the will of the legislator as being a principle for statute interpretation and the theory’s quasi-monistic doctrine of sources.This manifested itself in its making use of the legislator’s will as being a criterion of validity when deciding whether or not non-statute law - custom, a ca l l f o r s c i e n t i f i c p u r i t y 547 8 . 4 . 4 val idi ty by means of the leg i slator ’s wi ll? 534 Ibid.: pp. 62-63. Swedish: normenlighet. 535 Hägerström, Objektiva rättens begrepp, passim; “The Notion of Law,”passim. 536 Hägerström, Objektiva rättens begrepp, pp. 38-45 and 162-168;“The Notion of Law,” pp. 101-108 and 250-256;“Är gällande rätt?,” pp. 84-85;“Is Positive Law?,” pp. 42-44.
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