Whom Does Law Serve? The Libertarian Albert Jay Nock’s Concept

Abstract

Albert Jay Nock (1870–1945) was a prominent opinion journalist of the first half of the 20^th century, considered a representative of the first generation of libertarianism. The article is aimed at finding an answer to the question: Whom – according to Nock – does law serve? A key element of the problem is the internal dichotomy of the concept of law, which not only can be seen through the prism of the positivist-legal paradigm, but also constitutes the pillar of the jusnaturalistic concept. To properly arrange the object of study, the thesis was used according to which in Nock’s doctrine the existence of radically different assessment of the nature of man and his individual goals from the nature of the functioning of the State allows us to demonstrate the dichotomy of two opposing legal orders that serve the welfare of different entities (the individual and the State). To systematize the argument, the concept of the individual and his relations with the State was first presented, and then the dichotomy of the government and the State was discussed, which ultimately finally allowed to analyze the relationship between natural law and positive law.