Sustainability and Law - 3.2. Positive law

3.2. Positive law

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Harvard

Boros Anita–Koi Gyula (eds) (2025): Sustainability and Law. : Akadémiai Kiadó. https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636641788Letöltve: https://mersz.hu/hivatkozas/m1353sal_840/#m1353sal_840 (2026. 01. 16.)

Chicago

Boros Anita, Koi Gyula, eds. 2025. Sustainability and Law. : Akadémiai Kiadó. https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636641788 (Letöltve: 2026. 01. 16.https://mersz.hu/hivatkozas/m1353sal_840/#m1353sal_840)

APA

Boros A., Koi G. (eds) (2025). Sustainability and Law. Akadémiai Kiadó. https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636641788. (Letöltve: 2026. 01. 16.https://mersz.hu/hivatkozas/m1353sal_840/#m1353sal_840)

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The roots of positive law can be found also in the ancient Greek philosophy as νόμος (Anc. Ger. nomos). In the Middle Ages, in the system of St. Thomas Aquinas, positive law (Lat. lex positiva) is a “reasonable and proclaimed provision that serves the common good and comes from someone who has the task of taking care of the community.”1 One part of this is divine law (Lat. lex divina): positive laws given by God (Holy Scripture), and human law (lex humana ≈ νόμος), man-made laws with two subcategories: ius gentium (law of nations, international law) and ius civile (civil law). However, he adds that lex iniusta non est lex. Hobbes derives it from the will of the sovereign: “law properly, is the word of him [Leviathan], that by right hath command over others, and the authority of a law, it is not the length of time that maketh the authority, but the will of the sovereign signified by his silence.”2

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Boros A., Koi G. (eds) (2025). Sustainability and Law. Akadémiai Kiadó. https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636641788. (Letöltve: 2026. 01. 16.https://mersz.hu/hivatkozas/m1353sal_844/#m1353sal_844)

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The 19th century saw the rebirth of legal positivism, which views law primarily as a human creation defined and applied by society. Among the legal positivists, it is worth mentioning Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), John Austin (1790-1859), Paul Laband (1838-1918), Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Gerber (1823-1891), Max Bergbohm (1889-1965) philosophers and legal scholars; 20th-century representatives of the school are Hans Kelsen (1881-1973), and Herbert Hart (1907-1992). For positivists, the validity of law does not depend on its connection to higher natural laws or moral principles but on whether it complies with formal legislative procedures and the norms of the existing legal system. According to them, law and morality are two separate areas that should not be confused. A law is valid even if it is morally objectionable. The sole source of law is positive law, that is, the set of norms created and enforced by the state.3 The only source of the validity of law is that it was created through proper procedure and does not conflict with other, higher-order legal rules. Therefore, the validity of legal norms is based exclusively on other legal norms, e.g., the constitution or the act on law-making.

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Boros A., Koi G. (eds) (2025). Sustainability and Law. Akadémiai Kiadó. https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636641788. (Letöltve: 2026. 01. 16.https://mersz.hu/hivatkozas/m1353sal_846/#m1353sal_846)

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In the relationship between sustainability and substantive law, the following branches of law and areas of law can be highlighted: (i) constitutional law, (ii) administrative law, (iii) environmental and nature conservation law, (iv) international and European Union law, and (v) other, see consumer protection or criminal law, civil law. All of these are permeated by core values such as fundamental environmental rights (rights to a healthy environment, rights to information and participation, rights of future generations and sustainability, technology and innovation rights, or the ‘polluter pays’ principle).4

1	St. Thomas Aquinas: op. cit. I/II. q. 90. a. 1.
2	Hobbes, T. (1651/1668). Leviathan or The Matter, Form and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiastical and Civil. (London:Andrew Crook). 396. URL: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3207; (accessed: 28 October 2024). https://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/hobbes1651part2.pdf (accessed: 28 October 2024). Book (Part) I. Chap. XV.41.: “Law properly, is the word of him [Leviathan], that by right hath command over others;” Book (Part) II, Chap. XXVI: “auctoritas non veritas facit legem – authority, not truth, makes law” (ed. 1668); “authority of a law, it is not the length of time that maketh the authority, but the will of the sovereign signified by his silence.”
3	Boros, A. (2024). Az állam szerepe a fenntarthatósági kutatásokban – kutatásmódszertani kitekintés. [The role of the state in sustainability research – a research methodological perspective]. Közigazgatási Eljárási Jogi Közlemények, [Public Administration Procedural Law Bulletins], 4(1) 75-93.
4	Harris, M. R. (2010). ‘Environmental deliberative democracy and the search for administrative legitimacy: a legal, positivism approach.’ University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, 44(2)DOI: https://doi.org/10.36646/mjlr.44.2.environmental (accessed: 28 October 2024).