AUSTIN’S COMMAND THEORY OF LAW

- COMMAND
o “If you express or intimate a wish that I shall do or forbear from some act, and if you will
visit me with an evil in case I comply not with your wish, the expression or intimation of
your wish is a command.”
o A command is distinguished from other signification of desire through the power and
the purpose of the party commanding to inflict an evil or pain in case the desire be
disregarded.
 If you cannot or will not harm me in case I will not comply with your wish, the
expression of your wish is not a command.
- LAW IS A SPECIE OF COMMAND:
o Austin classified two (2) species of command:
 Law or Rule – obliges generally to acts or forbearance of a class.
 Occasional or particular commands – obliges to a specific act or forbearance, or
acts or forbearances which it determines specifically.