Legal Coercion In Legal Law

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Coercion is seems to be a main part of our legal system. However, it is only necessary in some parts of our system in order for it to be effective and conceptually it could be said that it is not even needed. Legal coercion has been recognised as the use of force or the threat of sanctions to increase compliance with the law. If it is an essential part of the nature of law, then if there is no coercion, there is no law. As Bentham put it “"A law by which nobody is bound, a law by which nobody is coerced, a law by which nobody's liberty is curtailed, all these phrases which come to the same thing would be so many contradictions in terms”. Austin has championed the concept that coercion is an essential element in his command theory. Coercion…show more content…
Nullity cannot be a sanction. Whilst it may not be good for both parties if the contract is held to be null and void, for instance, they both miss out on a business venture that benefits both of them, it is not always the case. Nullity could be a good result, for example, the contract could have been a bad deal for one party, and as a result of the nullity, they escape deep financial losses. The concept of nullity is also different to a sanction of criminal law, which would be imprisonment. The reason for that sanction in criminal law is to discourage others from behaving in a certain way. The validity of a contract is likened to “scoring rules” by Hart. A contract is valid like a goal is valid, if it passes between the posts. A scoring rule does not discourage behaviour as saying that a goal is when the ball passes through the posts does not mean it discourages conduct such as not scoring goals. A further criticism is that we cannot know the nullity of the power without knowing the rules that set out the conditions for conferring that power. In criminal law, we can describe what qualifies the offence of murder without knowing the consequences of committing it. But in contract, nullity is simply the failure to meet the conditions. A final point is that trying to reduce laws about conferring power to a more basic command fails to illustrate the positive values they…show more content…
There can be sanctions in the non-legal sphere to create obligations. Social clubs could enforce their own rules through revoking someone's membership of that club for example. The court of law is also what separates legal obligations from other obligations. Harts secondary rules explain whether we have a legal obligation or not, if the legal rule is valid. To make an obligation a legal one, the parties must follow the legal rules that determine its validity. The court will then decide if they have followed them or not. A final point is that, imprisonment is a sanction that unique to law, but it doesn’t mean that sanctions won’t occur outside of the legal sphere, it is simply a stronger sanction. Even conceptually therefore, it could be said that coercion is not a necessary part of the nature of
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