ABSTRACT
Modern law is formed by a system of norms that are coercive, positive, and, so it is claimed, freedom-guaranteeing. The formal properties of coercion and positivity are associated with the claim to legitimacy: the fact that norms backed by the threat of state sanction stem from the changeable decisions of a political lawgiver is linked with the expectation that these norms guarantee the autonomy of all legal persons equally. The expectation of legitimacy is intertwined with the facticity of making and enforcing law. Modern law presents itself as Janus-faced to its addressees: it leaves it up to them which of two possible approaches they want to take to law. Moral and legal prescriptions each have different reference groups and regulate different matters. The doubling of law into natural and positive law suggests that historical legal orders are supposed to copy a pregiven suprasensible order.
