ABSTRACT
This chapter presents three essential attributes based on the three dominating scientific perspectives on norms: law, sociology and social psychology that can be considered to form the foundation for a definition of the norm concept. It explores a model for creating a more coherent concept, designed to meet the demands of the multidisciplinary field of sociology of law. Law as a discourse determines, within the terms of that discourse, what is to count as "truth" that is, correct understanding or appropriate and reliable knowledge, for specifically legal purposes. Since SoL emerged as a scientific discipline in the early twentieth century, one of the central tasks has been to define law, and thereby also to distinguish law from other norms in society. SoL is a social science and has a sociological foundation. SoL, as a science, takes its departure mainly from two distinct scientific traditions.
