ABSTRACT
The purpose of legal theory as conceived by Professor Raz is to seek to uncover and explain the nature of law, so that the explanation of law covers law wherever law is found. It is possible to talk about the 'nature of law' in terms of law's essential properties and also the role law plays in modern Western societies. The institution of law may have, in modern Western-societies, a much more expansive role than law's relation to societies in the past. However, modern law in Western societies pervades deeply into social life in a way that would have astounded people's ancestors. This chapter also examines the issue as to whether the often made claim to authority by the law is actually a part of the nature or essence of law. It also examines whether the Nazi regime in Germany had a legal system or whether its organised brutality should not be dignified with the word 'law'.
