This book features essays that investigate the nature of legal validity from the point of view
of different traditions and disciplines. Validity is a fascinating and elusive characteristic
of law that in itself deserves to be explored but further investigation is made more acute and
necessary by the production nowadays of soft law products of regulation such as declarations
self-regulatory codes and standardization norms. These types of rules may not exhibit the
characteristics of formal law and may lack full formal validity but yet may have a very real
impact on people's lives. The essays focus on the structural properties of hard and soft legal
phenomena and the basis of their validity. Some propose to redefine validity: to allow for
multiple concepts instead of one and or to allow for a gradual concept of validity. Others seek
to analyze the new situation by linking it to familiar historical debates and well-established
theories of law. In addition coverage looks at the functions of validity itself. The
discussion considers both international law as well as domestic law arrangements. What does it
mean to say that something is valid? Should we discard validity as the determining aspect of
law? If so what does this mean for our concept of law? Should we differentiate between kinds
of validity? Or can we say that rules can be more or less valid? After reading this book
practitioners scholars and students will have a nuanced understanding of these questions and
more.Chapter 6 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License via link.springer.com.
