ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the metaphor of 'dead law' well describes the ideal outcome of the quest for objectivity, and legal science as a veritable science by modern standards can be thought to contribute to its realization. Without such a legal science, law will degenerate into chaos and arbitrariness. Justice Scalia argues that the law is essentially about form, but it can very well be argued that the law is not so much about form but about authority. In his classic general introduction to Dutch private law, Paul Scholten says that the judge is an 'organ of the community' providing the members of the legal community with a binding decision. In addition to content-independent reasons, legal obligations are thought to provide 'exclusionary reasons' for action. Justice Scalia's professional commitment to the rule of law and the separation of powers forbids him to make rules and commits him to what he calls 'textualism' and 'originalism'.
