<P> Austin was born on March 3, 1790, the eldest son of a well - to - do Suffolk miller . </P> <P> After spending five years in the army during the Napoleonic Wars, Austin turned to law and spent seven unhappy years practising at the Chancery bar . In 1819, Austin married Sarah Taylor and became neighbours and close friends with Jeremy Bentham and James and John Stuart Mill . Mainly through Bentham's influence, Austin was appointed professor of jurisprudence at the newly founded University of London in 1826 . Austin's lectures were not well - attended, and he resigned his university post in 1834 . </P> <P> Thereafter, aside from two stints on government commissions, Austin lived largely on his wife's earnings as a writer and translator . Plagued by ill health, depression and self - doubt, Austin wrote little after the publication of his major work, The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (1832). This work was largely ignored during Austin's lifetime . It became influential only after his death when his wife, Sarah Austin, published a second edition in 1861 . A second book, Lectures on Jurisprudence, was put together by Sarah from Austin's notes and published in 1863 . </P> <P> Austin's goal was to transform law into a true science . To do this, he believed it was necessary to purge human law of all moralistic notions and to define key legal concepts in strictly empirical terms . Law, according to Austin, is a social fact and reflects relations of power and obedience . This twofold view, that (1) law and morality are separate and (2) that all human - made ("positive") laws can be traced back to human lawmakers, is known as legal positivism . Drawing heavily on the thought of Jeremy Bentham, Austin was the first legal thinker to work out a full - blown positivistic theory of law . </P>

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