Legal Literacy - Law is the command of the sovereign. This view was put forward by John Austin, who defined law as "the command of the sovereign". This article discusses the essence of law according to Austin, the types of law, its elements, and the implications of legal positivism.

Law is the Command of the Sovereign

Law is command is the concept underlying the view “law is the command of the sovereign”. All positive law is a command from a sovereign ruler (command of law-giver). This is what is believed by John Austin. He viewed that the essence of law is the “command” itself. For Austin , as the main proponent of the school of legal positivism, considers that law is only limited to rules, which specifically are its “juridical form”. Regarding the material content and substance, it is not an important matter, because it becomes an issue in other fields of study.

Law only deals with the reality that there is a sovereign who forms a rule, and that rule must be obeyed. If the rule is not obeyed, sanctions will be imposed on every violation. Adherents of legal positivism also consider that the validity and enforcement of legal rules no longer question whether it is fair or unfair, but rather what is permissible and not permissible. So the absolute relevance of the rule of law is that it “exists” and is “valid” juridically.