“The Juridical Act; a study of the theoretical concept of an act that aims to create new legal facts”

The result of the research is a theoretical concept of 'legal acts'. Legal acts are acts that have the purpose of creating new legal consequences, and because they have that purpose, can indeed bring about legal consequences. A theoretical concept is independent of a specific legal system. The developed concept is based on theories about speech acts and the institutional theory of law. The concept helps in systematising and gaining better insight into law. In addition it can play a role as tertium comparationis; both for comparative law and internal legal research. The concept can also be used to explain new developments such as the role that computers play within the legal system.

Key words: theoretical concept, legal act, speech act, institutional theory of law.