ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on insights and ideas contained in Zenon Bankowski's Living Lawfully. It analyses Bankowski's notion of 'fulfilling the law by breaking it'. The chapter shows that the consequences of fully developing that idea in the terms stated in Living Lawfully endanger the conception of law defended in it. The reason for this problem is that there is still too much formalism in Bankowski's notion of legality. This tension would make possible an instrumental use of the law, such as, for example, those described as 'tax avoidance', that endanger the political aspect of 'living lawfully'. The chapter provides a solution for this problem by radicalizing some of the ideas contained in Bankowski's conception of law. The ethical aspect of 'living lawfully' has been captured well by Claudio Michelon in the Preface to the Portuguese translation of Living Lawfully. In 'formalism within legality' the law becomes pure heteronomy and is no longer the expression of the will of the people.
