ABSTRACT
The legal relation is the cell-form of the legal fabric; only there does law accomplish its real movement. Compared to this, law as the aggregate of norms is merely a lifeless abstraction. The expression 'the norm generates the legal relation' can be understood in two senses: real and logical. The formal-juridical method, which is concerned only with norms, only with that 'which is according to law', can maintain its independence only within very narrow limits and even then only so long as the tension between fact and norm does not exceed a certain maximum level. Law as an objective social phenomenon cannot be exhaustively defined by the norm or regulation. The conviction that subject and legal relation have no existence outside the objective norm is just as mistaken theoretically as the conviction that value does not exist and cannot be defined beyond supply and demand, because it is only manifested empirically in price fluctuations.
