law of nature, are asserted to be binding all over the globe, so that " no human laws are of any validity if contrary to this."
Austin never fails to stigmatize the use of "natural laws" in the sense of scientific facts as improper, or as metaphorical. Having eliminated metaphorical or figurative laws, we restrict ourselves to those laws which are commands. This word is the key to the analysis of law, and accordingly a large portion of Austin's work is occupied with the determination of its meaning.
A command is order issued by a superior to an inferior . It is a signification of case he comply not with the desire." " If you are able and willing to harm me in case I comply not with your wish, the expression of your wish amounts to a command." Being liable to evil in case I comply not with the wish which you signify, I am bound or obliged by it, or I lie under a duty to obey it . The evil is called a sanction, and the command or duty is said to be sanctioned by the chance of incurring the evil . The three terms command, duty and sanction are thus inseparably connected . As Austin, expresses it in the language of formal logic, " each of the three terms signifies the same notion, but each denotes a different part of that notion and connotes the residue." All commands, however, are not laws . That term is reserved for those commands which oblige generally to the performance of acts of a class . A command to your servant to rise at such an hour on such a morning is a particular command, but not a law or rule; a command to rise always at that hour is a law or rule .
