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Why did command theorists think laws must be understood by the people expected to follow them?

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The Greek philosopher Plato — Philosophy of law Plato, marble portrait bust copied from an original of the 4th century bce; in the Capitoline Museums, Rome.

Command theorists, such as Hugo Grotius, Francisco Suárez, and Samuel, baron von Pufendorf, argued that law is directed at beings who are free, intelligent, and self-directing. Because these subjects have the capacity to choose their actions, they must be able to recognize a law as a command addressed to them to incorporate it into their practical reasoning.1

These theorists believed that for law to successfully guide conduct, there must be a "meeting of the wills" between the legislator and the subject. They posited that the content of a law must be "instilled into a subject’s mind" so that the subject can understand the command as a reason to act. By ensuring the subject understands the lawmaker's intent, the law can play a rational and decisive role in the subject's deliberation about what they ought to do. This perspective emphasizes that law functions by motivating subjects through a rational process, rather than merely through external force.1