This paper explicates legalism as an alternative to positivism. It is because positivism as we have seen cannot provide a correct explanation of the legal transmutation process that is taking place at the global level. This paper argues it is the time; the legal scholarship needs to move from searching the nature of law to institutionalization of rules. The idea of institutionalization of rules consists of harmonization of contesting concepts and developing a framework of law that ensures the efficiency of social institutions.