Law As Institutional Fact

Neil.MacComick and Ota.Weinberger completed and published "an Institutional Theory of Law-new approaches to Legal Positivism" in1985, the publication of this work symbolizes the formation of Institutional Theory of Law . The Institutional Theory of Law is the mainstay and the latest development of the Analytic Positivist Jurisprudence after Hart and Lazz.This paper shows the theory characteristic by introducing the basic standpoint and the target of Institutional Theory of Law. This paper try to expose the unique meanings of this new theory by illustrating Institutional Fact which is the core of the Institutional Theory of Law.The introduction mainly states the inheritance and surmounting of the Institutional Theory of Law to the Analytic Positivist Jurisprudence and the Natural Law Thought. Then the theory of Institutional Fact has been introduced, which makes readers enable to have a macroscopic assurance to the Institutional Theory of Law.The first part of this paper mentions the standpoint of Legal Positivism of the Institutional Theory of Law. The conclusion is that the Institutional Theory of Law is not only a kind of theory originated from the Analytic Positivist Jurisprudence but also a kind of theory surmounted the Analytic Positivist Jurisprudence.In the second part of this paper, the Institutional Theory of Law settles conflicts between normativism and anti-normativism by introducing new methods.The major content of the third part is the theory of Institution Fact which is the core of the Institutional Theory of Law. In this part, several correlative concepts are introduced firstly, then the viewpoint that the essence of normation is not only an objective existence but also an actual entity existence is discussed. Based on this viewpoint, we have the conclusion that lawis a kind of Institution Fact.The last part mentions the value of the Institutional Theory of Law. Firstly, theInstitutional Theory of Law surpasses the traditionary Analytic Positivist Jurisprudence by the enlargement of research extent and the inclusion of Sociological Positivism; in the same time, the Institutional Theory of Law makes progress by the denial of the essentiality of Natural Law Thought.