Niklas Luhmann's Theory of Autopoietic Legal Systems

Between 1984 and his death in 1998, German sociologist Niklas Luhmann developed a comprehensive theory of what he called autopoietic or self-referential systems. He worked out this approach both at the level of a social system as a whole and at the level of various social subsystems, such as state, economy, science, religion, education, art, family, and-the concern of the present article-law. My particular topics in this critical introduction to Luhmann's theory are ( a ) its relation to more standard legal theory, ( b ) foundational or self-referential problems in law, and ( c ) the problem of law's relation to other social spheres, especially politics and the economy.