ABSTRACT
The word 'law' resonates richly in the language and mythology of western civilization. The special, sacred history of the common law treats as one of its high moments the opinion supposedly enunciated by Chief Justice Coke in the matter reported by him and published posthumously under the style, Prohibitions Del Roy. Among the folktales of justice are a few serious comedies as well as the tragedies we always rehearse. The first of these tales is a serious enough attempt to create a Court to bring the Messiah in 1538 in the Holy Land. The second is more recent history: the Bertrand Russell/Jean Paul Sartre Vietnam war crimes tribunal in Sweden and Copenhagen in 1967. The fact that 'law' is located in our myths and stories as a powerful attribute of legitimate authority creates a potential ironic twist in the political consequences of positivist theory.
