that "historical research.. .has shown that lawyers ha\e often stood beside those w ho were powerful and well able to obtain the ser\ ices to plead their cases, compose their statutes or legitimate their claims...," suggesting the realist image of a law as little more than what the powerful ha\ e decided.' ^et, despite this realist opening context, his narrati\ e is normati\ ely rounded off as he asks how we can "ensure that judges and adxaicates are.. .alwaws ready to defend the Idii'}" (italics mine). The context in which this quote figures suggests \ ery clearly that the defense of such a 'law' would mean taking a stand against some other 'laws', e.g. the Nuremberg laws. The italicised words are thus indicatixe of an implied premise in Caenegem's sentence to the effect that there would be a 'higher' law somewhere, against which defectixe laxx (e.g. the Nuremberg laxxs) xxould be so judged if tried, though, unsurprisinglx’, he does not locate this 'laxx ' for the curious reader, f urther, his text suggests that it is possible and, judging Iw the textual context, morallx imperatix e that this presumably 'higher' laxx be defended. .\s Caenegem names the ansxxer to this question as among the most pressing demands in laxx of our time, this unexpected naturalistic txx ist effectix elx- becomes the final cadence of his book. Such language max' be understandable but not xerx’ helpful. Neither Laufs nor Ciaenegem assist the reader in fleshing out this 'laxy'. A critical look at xvhat goes on behind closed curtains max' gix e another perspectixe on whence such 'laxx'. The German Bundesgerichtshof sought as mentioned t(x find das tvtibrc Rccbt. What they found XX as a /?<r/vxx hich rather predictablx' reflected their oxx n numal conx ictions. Nor should xxe expect anx' other result. \\ hen the BGl 1 made Cihristian neothomistic natural laxx the leirmotif of their socalled "Sittengesetz," "so xxar dies geradezu ein Schulbeispiel ftir "den alten naturrechtlichen Zirkelschluii" (Hans Welzel), der aus 30
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