Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to analyze Luhmann's legal theory and investigate its efficacy. Luhmann's unique legal theory offers quite reasonable perspectives as a social theory.
First, we examine a basic characteristic of Luhmann' s legal theory. It is widely recognized that Luhmann' s social system theory has undergone transformation since incorporating autopoiesis theory. Luhmann' s intention was to build a general theory of society and examine the mechanism of modern society. Concepts such as functional differentiation and self-referentiality of the autopoietic legal system are related to the essence of modern positive law. Luhmann successfully illustrated the difference between possible reproduction and gradual enactment of the legal system.
However, although Luhmann pointed out the overburdening of the legal system and the vulnerability of the autopoietic legal system to distortions caused by external factors, he mainly touched on the internal autonomy and did not elaborate adequately on theories relevant to such adverse influences on the legal system. Therefore, we focus on the relation between the complexity of legal system and society's plurality. We argue for the streamlining of the legal system. This is possible when social actors share the burden of the system. In contrast, the enactment of laws, which creates burden on the system in terms of time and effort, facilitates autonomy in social activities. This is what we observe to be the ambivalence of the modern legal system.
