COMPLEX ORGANIZATION AND LUHMANN,NIKLAS SOCIOLOGY OF LAW

Niklas Luhmunn's sociology of law is a description of the emergence of legal structures as the development of congruent reactions to the disappointment of norm expectations in a society of individuals faced with an excess of possibilities. The criteria for the selection of such laws is the enhancement of norm congruency. Differentiation and self-reflexivity when they are complimented by the complex concepts of hierarchical order and constraint meet the three requirements for an evolutionary system, a source of variety, a mechanism for selecting from among the variety, and a mechanism for fixing the choice. The concept of congruency communications as developed by Luhmann determines the criteria for the validation of the legal system. Finally, Ronald Dworkin's theory of legal principle is examined as a hierarchical control system which limits the possible range of valid law to those activities which can achieve some sense of congruence in the society. © 1990, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.