1. Communication with Card Index Boxes
Luhmann’s Law
Yhteiskuntateorioiden oikeus
6 April 2011
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

2. Structure Who is who? Ego and Alter Theory of Social Systems
Law as a Social System
Problems of World Society
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

3. Who is Who? Ego and Alter
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31/03/2017

4. Niklas Luhmann ( )
legal studies at Freiburg University 1949 Dr. jur legal clerkship in Lüneburg civil servant in Lüneburg ( at the Higher Administrative Court) administrative sciences at Harvard University University for Administrative Sciences Speyer Social Research Centre at Münster University ( studies of sociology at Münster University 1966 Dr. sc. pol and Habilitation in sociology acting professor at Frankfurt University professor for sociology at Bielefeld University
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

5. Luhmann’s Lifelong Project (I)
“When I was admitted at the Sociology Faculty of the Bielefeld University, created 1969, I found myself confronted with the requirement to indicate research projects in which I was involved. The description of my project at that time and since then has been: theory of the society; duration: 30 years; costs: none.” (Luhmann 1997a, 11; own translation)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

6. Luhmann’s Lifelong Project (II)
“Our flight must take place above the clouds, and we must reckon with a rather thick cloud cover. We must rely on our instruments. Occasionally, we may catch glimpses below of a land with roads, towns, rivers, and coastlines that reminds us of something familiar, or glimpses of a larger stretch of landscape with the extinct volcanoes of Marxism. But no one should fall victim to the illusion that these points of reference are sufficient to guide our flight.” (Luhmann 1995, l)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

7. “Card 21/3d26g53 is for Habermas”
Luhmann’s Lifelong Partner (I)
“Card 21/3d26g53 is for Habermas”
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

8. Luhmann’s Lifelong Partner (II)
“As the result of extensive work with this technique a kind of second memory has come about, an alter ego, by which it is constantly possible to communicate. Similar to our own memories, it is not organized through and through, and neither is there a hierarchy, and certainly there is no linear structure like a book would have. But precisely because of this, it gains a life independent of its author’s. The notes taken as a whole may only be described as disorder, but nevertheless it is a disorder without a random internal structure.” (Luhmann 1992, 57)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

9. Monographs on Law
1965 Öffentlich-rechtliche Entschädigung rechtspolitisch betrachtet – 1965 Grundrechte als Institution: Ein Beitrag zur politischen Soziologie – 1966 Recht und Automation in der öffentlichen Verwaltung: Eine verwaltungswissenschaftliche Untersuchung – 1969 Legitimation durch Verfahren – Rechtssoziologie – 1974 Rechtssystem und Rechtsdogmatik – Ausdifferenzierung des Rechts: Beiträge zur Rechts- soziologie und Rechtstheorie – 1986 Die soziologische Beobachtung des Rechts – 1993 Das Recht der Gesellschaft
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

10. Other Monographs
1970 Soziologische Aufklärung: Aufsätze zur Theorie sozialer Systeme – Soziologische Aufklärung 2: Aufsätze zur Theorie der Gesellschaft – Gesellschaftsstruktur und Semantik 1 – 1981 Gesellschaftsstruktur und Semantik 2 – Soziologische Aufklärung 3: Soziales System, Gesellschaft, Organisation – 1982 Liebe als Passion – 1984 Soziale Systeme – 1986 Ökologische Kommunikation – 1987 Soziologische Aufklärung 4: Beiträge zur funktionalen Differenzierung der Gesellschaft – 1988 Die Wirtschaft der Gesellschaft – 1989 Gesellschaftsstruktur und Semantik 3 – 1990 Die Wissenschaft der Gesellschaft – 1990 Soziologische Aufklärung 5: Konstruktivistische Perspektiven – Soziologie des Risikos – 1992 Beobachtungen der Moderne – 1993 Das Recht der Gesellschaft – 1995 Gesellschaftsstruktur und Semantik 4 – 1995 Soziologische Aufklärung 6: Die Soziologie und der Mensch – 1996 Die Realität der Massenmedien – 1997 Die Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft – 1997 Die Kunst der Gesellschaft – 2000 Die Politik der Gesellschaft – 2000 Die Religion der Gesellschaft – 2000 Organisation und Entscheidung – Das Erziehungssystem der Gesellschaft – 2002 Einführung in die Systemtheorie – Einführung in die Theorie der Gesellschaft – 2008 Die Moral der Gesellschaft
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

11. Articles on Law
1967 Gesellschaftliche und politische Bedingungen des Rechtsstaates – 1967 Positives Recht und Ideologie – 1969 Funktionale Methode und juristische Entscheidung – 1969 Funktionen der Rechtssprechung im politischen System – 1970 Positivität des Rechts als Voraussetzung einer modernen Gesellschaft – 1970 Zur Funktion der "Subjektiven Rechte" – 1970 Die Funktion der Gewissensfreiheit im öffentlichen Recht – 1970 Evolution des Rechts – 1970 Gesetzgebung und Rechtssprechung im Spiegel der Gesellschaft – 1972 Rechtstheorie im interdisziplinären Zusam- menhang – 1972 Systemtheoretische Beiträge zur Rechtstheorie – 1973 Die juristische Rechts- quellenlehre aus soziologischer Sicht – 1973 Gerechtigkeit in den Rechtssystemen der modernen Gesellschaft – 1974 Die Funktion des Rechts: Erwartungssicherung oder Verhaltenssteuerung? – The Legal Profession: Comments on the Situation in the Federal Republic of Germany – Rechtsprechung als professionelle Praxis – 1976 Ausdifferenzierung des Rechts-systems – Selbstreflexion des Rechtssystems: Rechtstheorie in gesellschaftstheoretischer Perspektive – Kommunikation über Recht in Interaktionssystemen – 1983 Bürgerliche Rechtssoziologie: Eine Theorie des 18. Jahrhunderts – 1983 Die Einheit des Rechtssystems – 1984 Die Theorie der Ordnung und die natürlichen Rechte – 1984 The Self-Reproduction of the Law and its Limits – Einige Probleme mit "reflexivem Recht" – 1986 Die Codierung des Rechtssystems – Closure and Openness: On Reality in the World of Law – 1988 Positivität als Selbstbestimmtheit des Rechts – 1988 The Third Question: The Creative Use of Paradoxes in Law and Legal History – Zwei Seiten des Rechtsstaates – 1988 Law as a Social System – 1990 Verfassung als evolutionäre Errungenschaft – 1990 Die Stellung der Gerichte im Rechtssystem – 1991 Steuerung durch Recht? Einige klarstellende Bemerkungen – 1991 Die Geltung des Rechts – 1993 Das Paradox der Menschenrechte und drei Formen seiner Entfaltung – 1995 Juristische Argumentation: Eine Analyse ihrer Form

12. Theory of Social Systems
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

13. On Systems (I)
“The following considerations assume that there are systems. Thus they do not begin with epistemological doubt. They also do not advocate a ‘purely analytical relevance’ for systems theory. […] Thus the concept of system refers to something that is in reality a system and thereby incurs the responsibility of testing its statements against reality.” (Luhmann 1995, 12)
“Our thesis, namely, that there are systems, can now be narrowed down to: there are self-referential systems. This means first of all, in an entirely general sense: there are systems that have the ability to establish relations with themselves and to differentiate these relations from relations with their environment.“ (Luhmann 1995, 13)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

14. On Systems (II) Living Systems  Biology Conscious Systems
 Psychology
Social Systems
 Sociology
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

15. On Social Systems (I)
“[T]he basal process of social systems, which produces their elements, can only be communication.” (Luhmann 1995, 138)
“Communication is the processing of selection. […] [It] must be viewed [...] as a three-part selection process.” (Luhmann 1995, 140):
Accordingly, communication is the result of, first, the selective attention of the sender, second, the selective attention of the receiver, and, third, the selectivity of the information itself.
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

16. On Social Systems (II)
“We are dealing with social, not psychic systems. We assume that social systems are not composed of psychic systems, let alone of bodily human beings. Therefore, psychic systems belong to the environment of social systems.
Of course, they are a part of the environment that is especially relevant for the formation of social systems. […] Such environmental relevance for the construction of social systems constrains what is possible, but it does not prevent social systems from forming them- selves autonomously and on the basis of their own elemental operations.” (Luhmann 1995, 255)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

17. On Social Systems (III)
Interaction systems emerge when individuals are co-present and perceive each other in face-to-face communication.
Organization systems coordinate the actions of individuals (members) through decisions that are taken according to certain conditions.
Function Systems operate on the basis of system- specific communication media; they follow a distinctive, binary code which is applied according to certain, alterable programmes.
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

18. On Function Systems (I)
Legal System (legality)
Economic System (payment)
Political System (power)
Scientific System (truth)
Mass Media System (information)
Health System (health)
Education System (selection)
Art System (art)
Religious System (transcendence)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

19. On Function Systems (II)
“If function systems are operationally closed systems, their differentiation will produce more independencies and more dependencies at the same time –
more independencies because of their operational closure and their highly selective structural couplings,
and more dependencies because society can maintain its present achievements only if all the function systems operate and reproduce themselves at an adequate level.” (Luhmann 1997b, 75)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

20. Law as a Social System
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31/03/2017

21. Law as a Social System (I)
The Location of Legal Theory
The Operative Closure of the Legal System
The Function of Law
Coding and Programming
Justice, a Formula for Contingency
The Evolution of Law
The Position of Courts in the Legal System
Legal Argumentation
Politics and Law
Structural Couplings
The Self-description of the Legal System
Society and its Law
(Luhmann 2004, contents)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

22. Law as a Social System (II)
case law
Legal
System
statutory law
contract law
Political
System
Economic
System
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

23. On Law’s Positivity (I)
“Positive law is valid, because it could be changed by decision. It is valid on the grounds of its revisability and can, in spite of that, achieve a relative consistency over time, if at the very moment nobody thinks of, or nobody has the possibility or power, to initiate a revision procedure.” (2000, 35; original emphasis, own translation)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

24. On Law’s Positivity (II)
“As one looks at attempts to deal with the problem of the contextualization of the positivity of law, they leave the option of formulating the problem – which is only insufficiently defined as ‘positivity’ – in conceptually different ways. We will do this in the following chapter [ch. 3: The function of law] with the help of systems theory.” (Luhmann 1995, 78)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

25. Review: Law and Sociology
“Luhmann was originally trained as a lawyer, and his reflections on law combine the immense historical range and synthetic abstraction of his other inquiries with a very detailed practical and institutional knowledge of what actually happens in the interpretation and application of the law.
The result is a piece of theoretical sociology, well supported by factual and historical analysis, which raises entirely new questions about the role of law and the rule of law in modern societies, and which disturbs many commonplace assumptions about such matters.” (Thornhill 2004, 601)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

26. Review: Basic Argument (I)
“[M]odern society is characterized and constituted by an evolutionary logic of differentiation, through which the social sub-systems of politics, law, the economy, art, medicine, religion and education are differentiat- ed out from each other and establish self-referential modes of communication for the fulfilment of their own specific internal functions.
On this account, law is a positivized, operatively closed, and autopoietic sub-system of society, whose one and only function is to stabilize ‘normative ex- pectations‘ over time […].” (Thornhill 2004, )
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

27. Review: Basic Argument (II)
“To accomplish this, law generates the ‘binary scheme’ or code legal/illegal to determine whether its normative expectations are fulfilled or disappointed;
by establishing this code the law also communicates information to itself and decides which are the social issues requiring legal regulation and which not,
and the code thus provides the basic mechanism through which law avoids conflation with politics, art, economics, etc.” (Thornhill 2004, 602; references omitted)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

28. Review: Law and Politics (I)
“Luhmann’s work has generated great controversy amongst legal theorists who think about the law within moral parameters or whose ideas about the law are tied to socially interventionist or transform- ative ambitions.
Luhmann construes law, quite simply, as a con- tingently self-reproducing subsystem of society whose social functions are determined by law and by law alone, not by any external factors or substantial considerations, and whose communications relate to law and to law alone, not to broader social problems or disputes.” (Thornhill 2004, 602)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

29. Review: Law and Politics (II)
“Underlying the conceptual complexity and abstraction of Luhmann’s sociology, therefore, is always a neutral – and indeed, at times, surprisingly benign – account of how modern societies work, and of how law operates in these societies.
Law, he argues, is nothing more than a formally normative medium whose functions are quite strictly limited and closely demarcated against those of other sub-systems, especially politics.” (Thornhill 2004, 603)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

30. Review: Political Side-Effects
“Sociologists and political theorists who have wondered about Luhmann’s political orientation will thus find clear evidence in this book that Luhmann supports a political outlook which in some respects replicates and reformulates aspects of nineteenth- century Liberalism, [that is,]
insisting on the value of a constitutional separation of power and law, but reluctant to expect too much of law as a potential mechanism for distributing material goods, for guaranteeing social welfare and equality, or for maintaining broad-ranging societal control.” (Thornhill 2004, 603)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

31. One Recent Example
“The welfare state produces completely new problems for the legal supervision of politics and leads to deformations of legal doctrine that undermine the predictability of legal decisions.
On the other hand, the corresponding judicial ‘legislation’ of constitutional courts affects politics in a way that can hardly be called ‘democratic’
(the degree of centralization of the emerging Euro- pean Union will not be decided by the governments in London, Paris or Berlin but by the European Court in Luxembourg).” (Luhmann 1997b, 76)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

32. Problems of World Society
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31/03/2017

33. On World Society (I)
“[W]e have now clear and theoretically consistent arguments for a single world society. The autopoietic system of this society can be described without any reference to regional particularities. This certainly does not mean that these differences are of minor importance. But a sociological theory that wants to explain these differences, should not introduce them as givens, that is, as independent variables; it should rather start with the assumption of a world society and then investigate, how and why this society tends to maintain or even increase regional inequalities.” (Luhmann 1997b, 73)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

34. On World Society (II)
“The world society has reached a higher level of complexity with higher structural contingencies, more unexpected and unpredictable changes [...] and, above all, more interlinked dependencies and interdependencies. This means that causal constructions [...] are no longer possible from a central and therefore ‘objective’ point of view. They differ depending upon observing systems, that attribute effects to causes and causes to effects, and this destroys the ontological and the logical assumptions of central guidance. We have to live with a polycentric, polycontextural society.” (Luhmann 1997b, 75)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

35. Parsons versus Luhmann
Social system
polity
(power)
community
(norms)
political system
(power)
legal system
(law)
law
economic system
(money)
scientific system
(truth)
economy
(money)
culture
(values)
Talcott Parsons
‘centred’ notion of law and society
 interpenetration
Niklas Luhmann
‘de-centred’ notion of law and society
 autopoiesis
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

36. On Inclusion/Exclusion (I)
“Traditional societies included and excluded persons by accepting or not accepting them in family households, and families (not individuals) were ordered by stratification.
Modern society includes and excludes persons via function systems, but in a much more paradoxical way. Function systems presuppose the inclusion of every human being, but, in fact, they exclude persons that do not meet their requirements.” (Luhmann 1997b, 70)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

37. On Inclusion/Exclusion (II)
“Many individuals have to live without certified birth and identity cards, without any school education and without regular work, without access to courts and without the capacity to call the police. One exclusion serves as an excuse for other exclusions. At this level, and only at this level, society is tightly integrated, but in a negative way. And modern values, such as equality and freedom, serve as cover terms to preserve an illusion of innocence -- equality as equal opportunity and freedom as allowing for individual (and not societal) attribution.” (Luhmann 1997b, 70)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

38. On Inclusion/Exclusion (III)
“The worst imaginable scenario might be that the society of the next century will have to accept the metacode of inclusion/exclusion.
And this would mean that some human beings will be persons and others only individuals;
that some are included into function systems for (successful or unsuccessful) careers and others are excluded from these systems, remaining bodies that try to survive the next day;
(to be continued)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
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39. On Inclusion/Exclusion (IV)
(continued)
that some are emancipated as persons and others are emancipated as bodies;
that concern and neglect become differentiated along this boundary;
that tight coupling of exclusions and loose couplings of inclusions differentiate fate and fortune:
and that two forms of integration will compete: the negative integration of exclusions and the positive integration of inclusions.” (Luhmann 1997b, 76)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

40. References
Luhmann, Niklas, 1992: Kommunikation mit Zettelkästen. In: Kieserling, Andreas (ed.): Universität als Milieu. Bielefeld, pp
Luhmann, Niklas, 1995 (1984): Social Systems. Stanford: Stanford University Press
Luhmann, Niklas, 1997a: Die Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft (two volumes). Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp.
Luhmann, Niklas, 1997b: Globalization or World Society: How to Conceive of Modern Society?
Luhmann, Niklas, 2000: Die Rückgabe des zwölften Kamels: Zum Sinn einer soziologischen Analyse des Rechts. In: Teubner, Gunther (ed.): Die Rückgabe des zwölften Kamels: Niklas Luhmann in der Diskussion über Gerechtigkeit. Stuttgart: Lucius und Lucius, pp
Luhmann, Niklas, 2004 (1993): Law as a Social System. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Thornhill, Chris, 2004: Review of Law as a Social System. In: Sociological Review, Vol. 53, No. 4, pp
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

41. On Reality Constructions (I)
First-order observation
to observe (distinguish and designate) something; to perceive realities without knowing about one’s own criteria
Second-order observation
to observe the observations of others; to learn about one’s own criteria, biases and blind spots
Third-order observation
to observe how observations are observed; to develop a self-reflexive theory of observation
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017

42. On Reality Constructions (II)
“There is no reason why protest movements would know the environment better, be it the individuals, be it ecological conditions, or assess it more correctly than other systems of society. However, this very illusion serves protest movements as the blind spot that allows them to stage resistance of communication against communication and, thereby, to provide society with reality which it could not construct otherwise.” (Luhmann 1997a, 865; own translation)
Centre of Excellence “Foundations of European Law and Polity” / Dr. Sabine Frerichs
31/03/2017