positive law and the need to arrive at a decision) that are too arbitrary, subjective, and abstract to be of any direct practical help.550 Furthermore, these “sources” or “principles” do not constitute fixed sources of positive law, since they (according to legal theory in general) are “sources” of law that are held to exist beside or alongside positive law, and even contain principles that expressly contradict the material rules of positive law.551 Consequently, these principles (the common sense of justice, natural law, and rational law) are of rather restricted utility to the jurists, because these principles, strictly speaking, are sources of law in name only, and not in fact.The reason is that they can only claim validity as sources of law when every other recourse has been thoroughly exhausted, and the rules of the common sense of justice, natural law, rational law or objective law have been shown to be in accord with the principles of positive law.An additional argument against the aforementioned “unwritten”sources of law is that the positive telos of legislation is that it should govern the citizens’ mode of conduct and imbue the same citizens with a sense of security by preventing anarchy and disorder, an end that is far easier to fulfill with the help of written rather than unwritten rules.552 This, furthermore, brings about the exclusion of the aforementioned quasi-legal sources and principles not only from the doctrine of legal sources but also from the doctrines of legal methodology in general, and statute interpretation in particular.553 On an abstract level the purpose of law, according Hägerström, is to direct the behavior of citizens by means of the courts’ application and implementation of the law, which, incidentally, requires that the application of law should also be foreseeable and p a r t v i , c h a p t e r 8 552 550 Ibid; Hägerström, Stat och rätt, pp. 144-147. 551 Hägerström, “Begreppet gällande rätt,” pp. 86-87. 552 Ibid.: pp. 86-89. 553 Ibid; Hägerström, Stat och rätt, pp. 144-147. 8 . 5. 2 the pos i t ive purpose of law
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=