The (onto)logical structure of law: a conceptual toolkit for legislators

The work of a legislator is to contribute to the set of rule s that gives structure to the “world of law”. This world of law consists of all the facts, rule s and other entities that exist through the application of legal rule s. Logic may well be interpreted as a theory of the (logically) necessary relations between facts in the world. This article combines these two ways of looking at legislation and logic. It analyses a number of central legal notions such as right , duty , obligation , power and competence in order to provide insight into the structure of the world of law. The relevance of this insight for legislators is illustrated by means of an example about the transfer of a piece of land, which shows how facts in the world of law are glued together by different kind of rule s. It is also illustrated at the hand of the question how law can affect the “outside world” and how legislators can contribute to this impact by providing proper “pathways through the world of law”.keywordscompetencedirection of fitdutynormobligationpathway through the world of lawrightrule.