Kletzer on Permissions

Abstract

Abstract: Kelsen argued that any legal system claims a monopoly of the legitimate use of coercive force. Where there is law, Kelsen held, uses of force are prohibited unless they are specifically authorized by the law. Christoph Kletzer's reconstruction of the Pure Theory of Law offers a more austere picture of the relation between law and coercive force. According to Kletzer, the law regulates the use of force simply by permitting it. To make good on this claim, Kletzer must show that it is possible to give a satisfactory description of the workings of legal order in terms of permissions of the use of force alone. This paper argues that an account of legal order as austere as this cannot be given. The permissive operations of the law Kletzer takes to be fundamental presuppose a prior prohibition of unlawful uses of coercion.