The first law arose in Modern Europe, when legitimacy in conflict treatment shifted from tradition to positivization. Constitutionalism and the struggle against absolutism prepared the ground, but only later did legal theory re-signify historical events into a coherent model of positivization. Law is a recent creation, though standards for treating conflicts are ancient. Their legitimacy changed as tradition gave way to positivization, and with it arose the reification of law: norms conceived as entities independent of those who interpret them. Yet what truly defines law is the legal community—the trained professionals who treat conflicts and whose shared repertoire gives meaning to legal principles and norms. Interpretation is not the discovery of a ‘true’ meaning, but a matter of rhetorical persuasion within this community. To de-reify law is to recognize it as a rhetorical practice rooted in the values and emotions of those who handle conflicts. In the future, Law may evolve again, perhaps beyond the very need for reified norms.