ABSTRACT

The law's binding or coercive force is the legal authority or power that laws, rules and regulations have over the individual, groups, institutions or societies within a specific jurisdiction. However, for Olivecrona, this law's binding force is an illusion only existing in people's minds. It is not based on any objective ethical or moral values, but solely on the will of the people in power. The problem that warrants this research is to ascertain whether coercion is a necessary part of law. The study's objective is to analyse Olivecrona's illusions of the law's binding force. Significantly, this study will be of great help to all and sundry, since everybody lives in a community; and there is no community without its rules and regulations. For legal philosophers, psychologists, lawyers, law enforcement agents, and so on, it will help them to do a better job in their respective fields. Finally, this study submits that a legal system should be in line with good reason to be justified. However, philosophical discussions on any issue are not faitaccompli, there are always opportunities for further discussions on the same issue. Therefore, the need to strike a fair balance between the wrath of the law and the good reasons behind noncompliance to what the law demands in specific circumstances.