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Abstract
Whatever their differing views on the respective roles of reason and fiat in law, the classical philosophies of law have generally concurred in attaching importance to the determinate and ascertainable character of positive law. For natural law theories, positive law may be seen as a concretization of the more abstract requirements of reason, reducing for the individual the extent of wisdom and judgement that must bridge the divide between the general demands of reason and the decision of specific instances. For theories of a more Hobbesian cast, law is a pure product of will, creating order out of a moral vacuum. But for all such theories, positive law exhibits a degree of certainty and specificity not to be found in the requirements, of reason apart from law: their differences turn on whether law is seen as creating new requirements on conduct, or as channelling and redirecting pre-existing requirements.
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