A.

Command
According to Austin, law is a command given by a determinate common superior to
whom the bulk of a society is in the habit of obedience and who is not in the habit of
obedience to a determinate human superior, enforced by sanction. It is the element of
command that is crucial to Austin's thinking, and the concept of law expressed by Austin
is described as ‘the command theory’ or ‘the imperative theory’ of law. Like Hobbes,
Austin defines a law as a kind of command. Power is again made central to law. Austin
states: ‘a command is distinguished from other significations of desire, not by the style in
which the desire is signified, but by the power and purpose of the party commanding to
inflict an evil or pain in case the desire be disregarded’. Thus, the power to inflict
punishment (sanction) in case of non-compliance is what makes an expression a
command. Remember again that moral commands are not laws or commands in the
Austinian sense of the word.