The Legal Reality According to Massini-Correas: Reconstruction and Development of his Concept of Law

Abstract

This article discusses the legal-philosophical thought of Carlos I. Massini-Correas and, more specifically, his conceptualization of law. The author early established his position on what law is, without subsequently reworking his conceptualization despite having incorporated—over forty-five years of intellectual and academic life—several positions that clearly implied a modification—at least in part—from his original conception. In other words, the original—and early—concept of law of the Argentine thinker does not fully reflect a whole set of reflections made by him, on matters such as the function of authority with respect to law, the link between human goods and the legal obligation, the relationship between the common good and self-evident human goods, the formal legal requirements (especially with regard to the subjection of authority to the law and the relationships of such requirements with human dignity and the common good), the generality of legal norms and the nature of these as carriers of motives or reasons for human conduct. Therefore, in this article I try to arrive at a definition of law that faithfully reflects the definitive position of the author with regard to its conceptualization, develop it and, finally, derive certain conclusions based on that conceptualization.