The paper explores some problems of the theory of law’s foundation in German idealism, by comparing Schelling’s perspective in his early work of 1796-1797 with Fichte’s perspective in his first treatise on law. Despite of the similarities between the two works, some differences may be shown, which underline young Schelling’s originality. When criticizing, like Fichte, the natural law, Schelling proposes a new theory on the relation between autonomy and law, opening the aria of thinking a collective subjectivity. Analyzing the practical status of an “autonomous heteronomy” in a relation of equality, his treatise marks a major step in thinking the law as a common right.