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The Struggle for Law


The term Recht is, it is well known, used in our language in a twofold sense,—in an objective sense and in a subjective sense. Thus Recht, in the objective sense of the word, embraces all the principles of law enforced by the state; it is the legal ordering of life. But Recht, in the subjective sense of the word, is, so to speak, the precipitate of the abstract rule into the concrete legal right of the person. In both directions the law meets with opposition. In both directions it has to overcome that opposition; that is, it has to fight out or assert its existence through a struggle. As the real object of my consideration, I have selected the struggle in the second direction, but I must not omit to demonstrate that my assertion that to struggle is of the very essence of the law, in the former direction also, is correct.

In regard to the realization of the law, on the part of the state, this is not contested, and it, therefore, does not call for any further exposition. The maintenance of law and order by the state is nothing but a continual

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