La obligación de aplicar las normas jurídicas vigentes

Abstract

To apply a law is a task incumbent on everybody, since it consists in accomplishing such juridical acts as ensue from the norm when certain factual situations are encountered and in fulfilling the apposite material facts. A norm-application is nothing else but drawing practical consequences from the norm plus the existence of such facts as constitute the norm’s antecedent. That operation in incompatible with Kelsen’s normativism, which pronounces norms to be completely separated from facts. Thus, certain legal situations are inconsistent with certain facts. In order for us to understand the rationale of norm applications we need a legal logic entirely different from standard deontic logics.