Law emerges when a secondary rule separates legal rules from social rules

Evidence

Hart’s concept of law is a construction of these various distinctions. Primitive communities have only primary rules, and these are binding entirely because of practices of acceptance. Such communities cannot be said to have “law,” because there is no way to distinguish a set of legal rules from amongst other social rules, as the first tenet of positivism requires. But when a particular community has developed a fundamental secondary rule that stipulates how legal rules are to be identified, the idea of a distinct set of legal rules, and thus of law, is born. — Ronald M. Dworkin, The Model of Rules, 59

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains the rule of recognition as the criterion that constitutes law’s distinctness from mere social practice.
• XREF: connects to: The rules that stipulate how Congress is composed, and how it enacts legislation, are examples of secondary rules. Rules about forming contracts and executing wills are also secondary rules because they stipulate how very particular rules governing particular legal obligations (i.e., the terms of a contract or the provisions of a will) come into existence and are changed.; The rules that stipulate how Congress is composed, and how it enacts legislation, are examples of secondary rules.; Primary rules impose duties while secondary rules confer public or private powers — HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (Clarendon Law…, 288 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Primary rules impose duties while secondary rules confer public or private powers #expands (0.80) — HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (Clarendon Law…, 288