Sociological jurists like Léon Duguit (France) and Hugo Krabbe (Holland) have put forward the doctrine of law not emanating from the sovereign but has location in society. This denies sovereign being the source of law, let alone the sole source of law. As such, the State is neither a creator of law nor beyond it. Duguit, for example, opposes the theory that law is a command of an absolute and unlimited sovereign and says that laws are the conditions of social solidarity. As such, law is independent of, and is superior and anterior to political organization. Law for him is objective not because of its source and its emanating from a definite human superior but because of the ends it serve—social solidarity. Laws being necessary for the attainment of social solidarity and interdependence of man are obeyed, as they are a formal expression of social rules. Thus, the state or the sovereign neither creates nor limits laws.
Similarly, Krabbe also maintains that law is independent of, and above the State in its origin. For Krabbe, unlike Duguit however, law is the outcome of men’s sense of right and is independent of the state. The authority of the State is nothing but the authority of law defined as such. Krabbe recognizes the sovereignty of law but assigns it a different location and source.
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