Sunday 20 September 2015

Schools of jurisprudence

Jurisprudence is the study or theory of law. It aims at defining the law and its origins. Jurisprudence aims at defining the nature and theory of law. It examines its origins and sources. Various different theories have been propounded to explain the nature, source and authority of law.
The various schools of jurisprudence are as follows:
(1) Natural law: natural law was propounded by the philosophers and religious scholars as law having divine origin. Under this school, there is very little difference between law and morality. It was implied that law can only be discovered by rational deductions from the nature of man. It proposes that law is the inherent moral values in an individual that are discovered by the deductions and introspection. The various proponents of this theory were Aristotle, Thomas Acquinas, Thomas Hobbes.
(2) Analytical or positive school: as opposed to the natural law, the analytical school does not take morality into consideration. The question, what law is? is the subject of discussion and not what law ought to be?
Amongst the proponents of the analytical law, Bentham gave his utilitarian theory and proposed the hedonistic calculus, which states that law is propounded by a higher authority for the greatest good of the greatest number.
As per Austin, law is the command of sovereign backed by sanction. For him, law comprises of order or command from a higher authority along with the power to punish for its disregard. The application of force is an important aspect in determining the validity of law.
Kelsen propounded the pure theory of law and separated law from society. He defined law as binding norms. He propounded that their is a higher norm "grundnorm" that is supreme and all the laws of the land take their validity from it.
According to this theory, legislation is the main source of law.
(3) Historical school: as per the historical school, law is the outcome of long historical development of the society. The historical school takes customs as the most important source of law.
Savigny propounded that law is the outcome of popular consciousness (volksgeist). Law evolves in an organic manner with the society.
(4) Sociological school: it focuses on the interaction of law and society and lays a greater emphasis on legal institutions. It states that law has source and sanction in the social needs and necessities.
Roscoe Pound stated his theory of social engineering, under which a law maker acts as a social engineer by attempting to solve problems in society using law as a tool.
Legal realism propounded by Justice Cardazo, Lewellyn, Justice Holmes states that law is like a putty in the hands of a judge who moulds it and gives it a desired shape based on his own biases and the facts of the case. American legal realism lays a greater importance on the role of judges as the law maker and interpreter and lays greater importance on precedence as the source of law.

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