This imperatival theory is positivist, for it identifies the existence of legal systems with patterns of command and obedience that can be ascertained without considering whether the sovereign has a moral right to rule or whether his commands are meritorious.
He made clear he was not attacking science, but systems of command and obedience without a heart, and power without a sense of responsibility, and was candid enough to admit his own personal temptation.
Hastrel worried that the officers could no longer command the obedience of the troops, and recounted in his journal: "The reception of the tri-color occasioned a scene of insubordination, which deprived us of several officers and served as a pretext to the revolutionaries to inspire defiance among the soldiers.
Although absolute rule may not work in European politics anymore, in corporate life the culture of command and obedience is tenacious.
The central directive force of the kingdom remained the king himself, whose office by tradition empowered its holder with the right to command the obedience of his subjects and to punish those who did not obey.
They believed, moreover, that true reforms could be brought about only by the exaltation of the papacy so that it commanded the obedience of all provincial metropolitans and was out of the reach of the emperor and the local aristocracy.
Pirates did not lightly submit to flogging, as they resented the frequent use of this punishment in the naval and merchant services from which most of them came, and thus only a leader who commanded the obedience of his crew could successfully order such penalties.
They also differed from those citizen-soldiers who disliked the rigid chains of command and unquestioning obedience expected in the services and who returned as fast as possible to civilian life.
But the young, in particular, have grown sceptical of Wahhabist injunctions that command blind obedience to rulers.
Moreover, it is a book that raises profound questions about group loyalty, command and obedience, xenophobia and abuse of authority.
This command implies obedience to the lawful orders of a superior, and in order to maintain this system the hierarchy of offices is marked by fixed positions, with well-defined duties, specific powers, and salaries and privileges objectively assessed.
