International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research

E-ISSN: 2582-2160   •   Impact Factor: 9.24

A Widely Indexed Open Access Peer Reviewed Multidisciplinary Bi-monthly Scholarly International Journal

Call for Paper Volume 7, Issue 3 (May-June 2025) Submit your research before last 3 days of June to publish your research paper in the issue of May-June.
Submit Research Paper Join as a Reviewer

Plagiarism is checked by the leading plagiarism checker TurnItIn

Call for Paper

Volume 7 Issue 3
May-June 2025

Submit your research paper

Indexing Partners
Academia Advanced Sciences Index Bielefeld Academic Search Engine CiteSeer DRJI Google Scholar Independent Search Engine & Directory Network ISI (International Scientific Indexing) Issuu Mendeley Research Networks
RefSeek ResearcherId - Thomson Reuters ResearchGate Scirus Scribd Semantic Scholar UTeM - Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka Wiki for Call for Papers WorldCat Zenodo

Reassessing Command: The Relevance of John Austin’s Legal Positivism in Contemporary Criminal Law

Author(s) Mr. Saif Hussain, Mr. Rishi Bhargava
Country India
Abstract This paper critically re-evaluates John Austin’s command theory of law in the context of twenty-first-century criminal law. Rooted in classical legal positivism, Austin's view of law as a sovereign's command backed by sanctions has long influenced jurisprudential thought, especially in relation to public and criminal law. However, the evolution of modern criminal justice systems—characterized by principles of moral culpability, procedural fairness, proportionality, and distributed legislative authority—raises fundamental questions about the continued applicability of Austinian theory. Through a doctrinal and analytical approach, this study examines the core elements of Austin’s theory—sovereignty, command, sanction, and habitual obedience—against key constructs of criminal liability such as mens rea, actus reus, legality, justification, and excuse. Drawing on critiques from thinkers like H.L.A. Hart and the transition from command-based to rule-based jurisprudence, the paper assesses whether Austin’s model remains a useful analytical tool or falls short in capturing the normative and interpretive demands of contemporary criminal law. The study concludes that while Austin’s model retains structural utility in understanding legal coercion, it requires significant conceptual expansion to remain theoretically relevant in today's pluralistic and moralized legal landscapes.
Keywords John Austin, Command Theory, Legal Positivism, Criminal Law, Moral Culpability
Field Sociology > Administration / Law / Management
Published In Volume 7, Issue 3, May-June 2025
Published On 2025-05-23
DOI https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i03.45776
Short DOI https://doi.org/g9mnzr
View / Download PDF File

Share this



E-ISSN 2582-2160
CrossRef

CrossRef DOI is assigned to each research paper published in our journal.

IJFMR DOI prefix is
10.36948/ijfmr

Downloads
Research Paper Format Copyright Permission Form and Undertaking Form Cover Page Vol 7 Isu 3Cover Page Vol 7 Isu 2Cover Page Vol 7 Isu 1

All research papers published on this website are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, and all rights belong to their respective authors/researchers.

CC-BY-SA Open Access

About IJFMR
Fees & Payment
Current Issue
Publication Archive 		Submit Research Paper
Track Submission Status
Publication Guidelines
Publication Ethics
Peer Review & Plagiarism 		Join as a Reviewer
Editors & Reviewers
Reviewer Referral Program
Get Reviewer Membership Certi. 		Website/Journal Policies
Usage Policy
Content Policies
Privacy Policy
Contact Us +91-9687-828-838 editor@ijfmr.com