Because a judgement on the truth or error of the differing convictions in law is impossible, and because on the other hand a uniform law for all citi… - Gustav Radbruch

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Because a judgement on the truth or error of the differing convictions in law is impossible, and because on the other hand a uniform law for all citizens is necessary, the law-giver faces the task of cleaving with a stroke of the sword the Gordian knot which jurisprudence cannot untangle. Since it is impossible to ascertain what is just, it must be decided what is lawful. In lieu of an act of truth (which is impossible) an act of authority is required. Relativism leads to positivism.

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About Gustav Radbruch

Gustav Radbruch (21 November 1878 – 23 November 1949) was a German legal scholar and politician.

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Concepts such as legal subject and legal object, legal relation and legal wrong, and indeed the very concept of law itself, are not accidental possessions of several or all legal orders but are necessary prerequisites if any legal order is to be understood as legal.

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