Rabanos on Back to (Law as) Fact: Some Remarks on Olivecrona, Scandinavian Legal Realism, and Legal Notions as Hollow Words @Univerzitet_BG @julesrabanos

Julieta A. Rabanos, University of Belgrade, has published Back to (Law as) Fact. Some Remarks on Olivecrona, Scandinavian Legal Realism, and Legal Notions as Hollow Words at Materiali per una storia della cultura giuridica 205 (2023).

The aim of this paper is to critically reconsider some of the main tenets underlying Karl Olivecrona’s works. The first two sections are devoted to a brief reconstruction of his position on methodology for the study of legal phenomena, including the endorsement of philosophical realism and the enterprise of demystifying legal language through linguistic therapy (§ 2), as well as his particular conception of legal notions as hollow words (§ 3). I will then provide a brief analysis of a central legal concept – that of “authorityµ – to show how Olivecrona’s methodological framework can be applied (§ 4). The last two sections are devoted to the analysis and evaluation of three possible criticisms of Olivecrona’s claims as a legal realist (§ 5) and some brief concluding remarks on the usefulness of Olivecrona’s approach for contemporary legal philosophy (§ 6).

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

Rabanos on Going Back to (Law as) Fact. Some Remarks on Olivecrona, Scandinavian Legal Realism, and Legal Notions as Hollow Words @julesrabanos @Univerzitet_BG

Julieta A. Rabanos, University of Belgrade, has published Back to (Law as) Fact. Some Remarks on Olivecrona, Scandinavian Legal Realism, and Legal Notions as Hollow Words at Materiali per una storica della cultura giuridica 205-232 (1) 2023. Here is the abstract.

The aim of this paper is to critically reconsider some of the main tenets underlying Karl Olivecrona’s works. The first two sections are devoted to a brief reconstruction of his position on methodology for the study of legal phenomena, including the endorsement of philosophical realism and the enterprise of demystifying legal language through linguistic therapy (§ 2), as well as his particular conception of legal notions as hollow words (§ 3). I will then provide a brief analysis of a central legal concept – that of “authorityµ – to show how Olivecrona’s methodological framework can be applied (§ 4). The last two sections are devoted to the analysis and evaluation of three possible criticisms of Olivecrona’s claims as a legal realist (§ 5) and some brief concluding remarks on the usefulness of Olivecrona’s approach for contemporary legal philosophy (§ 6).

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

Theories of Law

Carla Faralli, University of Bologna, Department of Economics, has published Law as Fact at 24 Revus: Journal for Constitutional Theory and Philosophy of Law 57 (2014). Here is the abstract.

Based on a non-cognitivist meta-ethical position and an anti-subjectivist concept of “reality”, Hägerström questioned the pretension of traditional legal theory, especially legal positivism, to be a science of law, because the entities to which it refers are not real. Olivecrona succeeded in pursuing such a thesis while he tempered it. Taking a socio-psychological approach, he offered a realistic theory of law which is able to emphasize psychical and linguistic phenomena lying at the root of our ideas of rights and duties, which determine what functions they serve in society and how they affect our conduct.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.