La teoría general de la forma de Robert Summers: a propósito de Robert S. Summers, "Form and function in a legal system. A general study"

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and analyse Professor R. SUMMERS' general theory of form. Based on the concept of form (defined by the author as a «purposive systematic arrangement»), SUMMERS advances an ambitious theory of epistemological import. He proposes a new way to look at the legal system, the form-oriented approach, while underlying the insufficiencies of the rule oriented-approach that characterises the thought of central legal philosophers such as H. KELSEN and H. HART. Thus, in SUMMERS' analysis, rules are not the dominant element, as it is the case in traditional legal positivism, but just one kind of legal unit among others. The paper analyses both the structural (anatomy) and functional (physiology) dimensions of the new formal theory of law. Furthermore, it puts the theory within the framework of contemporary legal philosophy, in which it is destined to be in a relevant position.