The Nature of Law and Potential Coercion

Woodbury-Smith, Kara

Abstract

This paper argues for a novel understanding of the relationship between law and coercion. It firstly refutes Kenneth Himma’s claim that the authorisation of coercive enforcement mechanisms is a conceptually necessary feature of law. It then claims that the best way to understand the law is as coercion‐apt. The “coercion‐aptness” of law is clarified, in part, by appealing to an essential distinction between law and morality: Whereas it can be reasonable for the law to appeal to coercive means in order to motivate compliance, it seems decidedly unreasonable for morality to do so.

Citation

Woodbury-Smith, K. (2020). The Nature of Law and Potential Coercion. Ratio Juris: An international journal of Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law, 33(2), 223-240. https://doi.org/10.1111/raju.12288

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jul 3, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020-06
• Deposit Date: Jan 22, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 7, 2020
• Journal: Ratio Juris
• Print ISSN: 0952-1917
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 33
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 223-240
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/raju.12288