Was ist Recht? Eine Marginalie

Abstract

The short essay playfully addresses the old philosophical question »what is law?« and explores possible answers and their meaning for historical and legal-historical research. To this end, different types of law, different abstract perspectives of conceptual research as well as family resemblances between the usages of the word »law« are introduced. The article argues that there must not be any final answer to the question »what is law?«, but instead the question itself is part of an ongoing and centuries-old struggle for law. A struggle that (legal-)historical research always should be aware of, because it till now determines our definitions of what law is and what it is not.