Ph.D. student, Department of Law, College of Farabi, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract: (8615 Views)
Legitimacy of law deals with rational justification of people's allegiance to the law in civilized societies. In other words, given that the "rule of law" is observed in the society, there is a need to answer some important questions, and "what is the basis on which people in modern societies follow the law?, "Why we should obey the law"?, and "What are the justified reasons to legitimate law"? Schools of thought have tried to answer these questions based on their perspective about being, cognition and value. In this essay, we tried to answer the above questions from Islam´s and Max Weber’s point of views. I argue, on the one hand, that Weber’s approach can not properly justify allegiance to law because it considers legitimacy as legality. On the other hand, Islamic attitude points out to the source of legislation right that comes from Allah. So the citizens under Islamic rules feel strong moral (Sharia) obligations to respect law.
Received: 2013/01/7 | Accepted: 2013/04/20 | Published: 2013/06/21