Legal Norms and Social Order: Petrazycki, Pareto, Durkheim

Abstract

Leon Petrazcycki's' contribution to the philosophy of law has hardly permeated this field to which not only its subject matter, but also its methodology are relevant. His primary interest in the source of legal norms, reinforced by his practical concern for the problems of legal reform, resulted in an appraisal of the connections between law and social order. This preoccupation, shared by many of his contemporaries, reflects the disenchantment prevailing in the second half of the nineteenth century. A growing disbelief in the spontaneous harmony of social evolution and in the inevitability of social progress stimulated thought about legislation as a means of planned improvements. Prolonged and widespread political unrest increased the premium placed upon social stability, while emphasizing the latent contradiction between freedom and order. The simultaneous accel-