The term law is surprisingly difficult to define. Perhaps the best-known definition within the sociology of law community is that of Max Weber: "An order will be called law if it is externally guaranteed by the probability that coercion (physical or psychological), to bring about conformity or avenge violation, will be applied by a staff of people holding themselves specially ready for that purpose" (1954, p. 5). Similar definitions include Donald Black's terse statement: "Law is governmental social control" (1976, p. 2). While these types of definitions have sometimes been attacked as employing a Westernized conception, appropriate for developed states but inappropriate for other societies, Hoebel advances a similar definition of law in all societies: "The really fundamental sine qua non of law in any society—primitive or civilized—is the legitimate use of physical coercion by a socially authorized agent" (1954, p. 26).

Definitions such as these...