ABSTRACT When legal practice satisfies certain modest conditions of legitimacy, affirming the equal dignity of persons, the law is what it ought to be. It provides the morally appropriate basis for the resolution of disputes between people who may disagree about what justice, ideally conceived, requires. Specific rules or rulings are properly interpreted in accordance with legal and constitutional principle, which tracks the nature and boundaries of legitimate government. Procedural and substantive moral standards are encompassed within an appropriate conception of the rule of law. The law is thereby constituted the measure of justice for the political community: a public conception of justice is substituted for conflicting private ones. Our legal obligations are precisely the moral obligations we owe as citizens, faithful to that community. We honour the demands of justice by obedience to law – the law that obtains in virtue of adherence to the ideal of the rule of law.

中文翻译：

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为什么法律是它应该的样子

摘要 当法律实践满足合法性的某些适度条件，确认人的平等尊严时，法律就是它应有的样子。它为解决人们之间的争端提供了道德上适当的基础，这些人可能不同意理想的正义要求。根据法律和宪法原则，对特定规则或裁决进行适当解释，该原则跟踪合法政府的性质和边界。程序性和实质性的道德标准包含在适当的法治概念中。因此，法律构成了政治共同体正义的衡量标准：公共正义观念取代了相互冲突的私人正义观念。我们的法律义务正是我们作为公民所负的道德义务，忠实于那个社区。