Introduction

Summary

Here I will be careful to clarify the specific question I intend to address in this book, so as to keep it distinct from other questions that similarly concern the obligatory component of the law. The specific object of this work is to construct a theoretical account of obligation as it applies to law, and hence to offer a conceptualization of legal obligation. I will thus be primarily concerned with the question: How should be legal obligation distinctively characterized? or, stated otherwise, How is the kind of obligation engendered by the law best conceived? I accordingly propose to contribute to the debate that has sprung up among those who are interested in systematically framing the fundamental features of legal obligation, understood as a notion with its own distinctive defining traits. Those engaged in this debate seek, for one thing, to identify and explore in detail the essential properties that define legal obligation and, for another thing, to establish what specifically distinguishes the specific sort of legal obligation from other kinds of obligation