Abstract

Some legal scholars draw a bright line between law and legal knowledge. Following Norberto Bobbio, we can call them "law's guardians." In contrast, others - Bobbio calls them "law's creators" - almost neglect the relevance of the boundary which separates law and legal knowledge. The distinction between "guardians" and "creators" captures something relevant about jurists' style in different historical periods and contexts. Nevertheless, it would be a clear mistake to treat this distinction as a conceptual or a substantive one. Even the "guardians model" of legal knowledge is grounded in ideological assumptions; as a consequence, the scholars who refer to this model cannot avoid being law "creators".