Alf Ross

Alf Ross was a Danish philosopher known for developing legal positivism, which emphasizes that laws are rules created by humans and are valid based on their social establishment, not moral considerations. He argued that legal systems should be understood through their social functions and structures, rather than moral or natural law principles. Ross believed that legal reasoning involves identifying and applying rules as they are written, focusing on clarity and consistency. His work helped clarify the nature of law as a social institution, emphasizing its systematic and human-made characteristics, distinct from ethics or moral judgments.