任何一种关于法律的性质或者本质的理论都宣称提供一种标准(standard),以用来确定(determine)某一社会中的哪些规范构成该社会的法律,这些标准通常采取充分且必要条件的陈述形式。举例而言,法律现实主义的一种幼稚版本坚持认为一个社会的法律是由法官们的判决所构成。在奥斯丁这类早期的实证主义者看来,法律由所谓的主权者的命令构成。在实质性的自然法理论看来,在任何一个可设想的(conceivable)法律体系中,成为某种真的道德性原则(being a true principle Any theory of the nature or essence of law claims to provide a standard that is used to determine which norms in a society constitute the law of that society, which usually take the necessary and sufficient Form of presentation. For example, a naive version of legal realism insists that the law of a society is composed of the judgments of the judges. In the early positivists like Austin, the law consisted of orders from so-called sovereigns. In the view of substantive natural law, in any conceivable legal system, a certain principle of being moral