The Nature of Law

Daniel Mark is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Villanova University, where he is also battalion professor for the Navy ROTC program. He is formerly the chairman of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Introduction 1. Obligation 2. Commands versus Rules - and Nazis 3. Justification 4. Authority and the Good 5. We the Sovereign Conclusion Bibliography

"[A] comprehensive and expert treatment. . . . [One hopes] that The Nature of Law is but the first in a series of works from Mark that will further elucidate law and all of its complexity and importance for the common good and individual human flourishing." -Reading Wheel Review "Daniel Mark makes a timely intervention into a perennial debate about when and why do we have an obligation to obey the law. Taking us beyond the terms of debate as they had been set in the twentieth century, Mark offers a theory of moral obligation that is rooted both in command and in the law's orientation to the common good." -Justin Buckley Dyer, co-author of The Classical and Christian Origins of American Politics "In our age of extreme political polarization, when fanaticism and self-righteousness lead many to think that they are justified in breaking the law to make a political point, scholars, leaders, and ordinary citizens need to be reminded of the philosophical and moral basis of our obligation to obey the law-even when we happen to disagree with it, and even when we may have a legitimate grievance. Readers will find no more sober, profound, and thorough account of this important issue than Daniel Mark's The Nature of Law." -Carson Holloway, co-editor of The Political Writings of Alexander Hamilton