ABSTRACT
Olivecrona sets out his views on ‘rights’ and the meaning of ‘rules of law’ in Law as Fact, which was published in 1939, and revised in 1971. His general aim was to fit the complex phenomena covered by the word ‘law’ into ‘the spatio-temporal world’. This involves a discussion of mental concepts of ‘rights’ and an application of the principles of realism to a study of the rules inherent in enacted law. Fundamental to his investigation and analysis is the philosophical outlook of the Scandinavian school of jurisprudence, which demands a total rejection of metaphysical speculation and a concentration on the ‘real, objective facts’ of legal life.
