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A related but broader concept than legal purity: the demand that law itself be kept “pure” from contamination by politics, morality, economics, or social context. Law purity treats law as an autonomous system that must be governed by its own internal logic, insulated from external values that would “corrupt” it. This mirrors political purity in its insistence on boundary maintenance and its fear of hybrid forms. While often associated with legal formalism, law purity also appears in radical critiques that treat engagement with existing legal institutions as inherently compromising. The result is often a retreat from using law as a tool for social change.
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