TRÊS CONCEITOS-CHAVE PARA A COMPREENSÃO DA SOCIOLOGIA DO DIREITO DE NIKLAS LUHMANN

OF LAW ABSTRACT: The article presents three key concepts for understanding Niklas Luhmann’s sociology of law: functional differentiation, positivity (of law) and expec-tations. The objective is to conceptualize and explain what is functional differentiation, positivity and expectations, and then, through this, to decomplex the problems inherent in the language of systems theory. It is intended here to an-swer the following question: “How to make systems theory accessible, in view of its complex language, for academics who have never had previous contact?”. The scientific method used was the functionalist. The instrumental procedures employed were the literature review and categories and operational concepts. The main result observed is the listing and explanation, in a punctual way, of key concepts of luhmannian jus-sociological thinking, but which can also be used by the academic to follow in other writings. It is noteworthy, however, present study is limited to Luhmann’s sociology of law, therefore, prior to the so-called “autopoietic turn”.