ABSTRACT
Most of the controversy has raged about the nature of law is the second sense—the body of authoritative material of determination of controversies. For example, in the common law, the system of law of the English-peaking-world, a statute furnishes a role for the cases within its purview but not a basis for analogical reasoning. The most familiar cases of the operation of the ideal element, however, are to be seen in the application of standards. Many standards involve an idea of reasonableness. Law secures interests by punishment, by prevention, by specific redress, and by substitutional redress; and the wit of man has discovered no further possibilities of judicial action. Yet the possibilities of administrative enforcement of law are limited also, even if there were not grave objections to a general regime of administrative enforcement. The Puritan conceived of laws simply as guides to the individual conscience.
