Law, Norm, And System: An Introductıon To Legal Theory

a.The Observer’s and the Participant’s Perspectives

H.L.A. Hart in his magnum opus “The Concept of Law” mentions two different “points of view” from which law and legal system can be evaluated. According to the “external point of view” a legal system is evaluated from the perspective of an observer based on facts, i.e. decisions and views of officials. Therefore, the external point of view offers a description of the legal system. For instance, the following is a statement from the external point of view: “In the Turkish legal system, statutes are enacted in the parliament with simple majority”. Provided that this observation rests upon an assessment of how statutes are actually enacted in the Turkish legal system, the speaker does not have a normative perspective. His point of view is purely descriptive. On the other hand, in the “internal point of view” acceptance accompanies the statement. A speaker uttering a statement from the internal point of view does not merely describe the facts of a situation, in fact it prescribes how things ought to be in his opinion. Take the example statement I have given for the external point of view. The following additions and adaptations would turn the external statement to an internal one: “In the Turkish legal system statutes ought to be enacted…”,…