| Special Workshop Title: | Scandinavian Legal Realism in Theory and Practice |
| Author: |
Martin Golding |
| Paper Title: | Promises and Performatives in Olivecrona’s Theory of Legal Language |
| Abstract: | Karl Olivecrona (Law as Fact, 1971) maintains that ‘right’ is a ‘hollow word’, and so also for some other terms. ‘Right’, he says, ‘has no conceptual background’. He arrives at this position after an examination of metaphysical and naturalistic accounts, including American legal realism. Some of Olivecrona’s arguments will be evaluated here. Primarily, his position is dependent on a theory of legal language like that of Hägerström’s. A parallel approach may also be found in Olivecrona’s book The Problem of Monetary Unit (1957). In some respects his approach is comparable to John Searle’s The Construction of Social Reality (1995), which deals with money. Olivecrona is left with the problem of how such “hollow’ terms function. Here he draws on J. L. Austin’s notion of performative language. I propose to submit Olivecrona’s approach to a critical examination. A central topic is that of promises. One question that is not explored by Olivecrona is why some, but not all, promises are legally enforceable. The relevance of this question to Olivecrona’s position will be considered. |
This page was last updated on: 2003-05-04.