ABSTRACT
H. L. A. Hart began writing on the law in the 1950s, in a very different world from the one known to Austin. With his critique of the latter's command theory and his construction of a new theory of law to replace it without relinquishing the basic principles of legal positivism, people are moving into an entirely different approach to understanding the essential features of law. The law for Hart is much more than the expression of the coercion of the population by a powerful elite. What is absolutely crucial in Hart's defence of his new picture of law is his distinction and contrast between the external viewpoint of the outside observer and the internal viewpoint of those who are active within the legal system, either as officials or citizens subject to its jurisdiction. For Hart, the explanatory centre of the law is the union of and interaction between two kinds of rules, which he calls primary and secondary.
