Kelsen believed that although law is separate from morality, it is endowed with “normativity”, meaning we should obey it. While legal guidelines are positive “is” statements (e.g. the fantastic for reversing on a highway is €500); law tells us what we “ought to” do. Thus, each authorized system can be hypothesised to have a basic norm instructing us to obey. Kelsen’s major opponent, Carl Schmitt, rejected both positivism and the idea of the rule of law because he didn’t settle for the primacy of summary normative ideas over concrete political positions and choices.
Three crew members and Richard Parker, a 17-year-old cabin boy, have been stranded on a raft. They argued it was essential to kill the cabin boy to preserve their own lives. The head of state is aside from the manager, and symbolically enacts legal guidelines and acts as representative of the nation. Examples include the President of …