Empirical legitimacy and normative compliance with the law

This entry considers the role that legitimacy plays in motivating people to comply with the law. The first section distinguishes between normative and empirical concepts of legitimacy. The second section discusses the preconditions of empirical legitimacy. The third section reviews the motivational influence of legitimacy. Attention is given to (a) the sanction-independent and content-independent qualities of legitimacy and (b) some ways to broaden the motivational scope.