Sociological Jurisprudence

Law has a purpose in society.

Human efort must be employed to make law more fulflling with this purpose.
Jurisprudence and legal philosophy are the guiding hands for human
direction.
Pragmatic defnitions of Law:
Legal order: uniform, systematic, and orderly application of a political force in
society.
ody of authoritati!e precepts, and techni"ues for the de!elopment and
application.
#he processes by which causes and contro!ersies are determined in order to
promote legal order within the society.
$#he three meanings of law as enumerated abo!e are unifed by means of social
control, and conse"uently%Law is a highly speciali&ed means of social control
carried on by an authoritati!e body.
$$#he Poundian defnition of Law.
#he purpose of Law is to afect a means of Social Engineering.
'ccording to Pound, there are two types of engineers:
(aintain current machineries, and duplicate them when necessary
)onstruct new machineries for new purposes
Pound*s + stages of legal de!elopment seeks to e,plain the end or ends of
the law for each of the stages.
#he engineering metaphor is applied as a means to e,plain that as the tools
and techni"ues for law de!elops, it uplifts itself from the frst class of
-ngineer unto the second.
.n its primiti!e stage, law was the weakest form of social instrument with
singular purpose of /keeping the peace0.
#he ne,t stage is described as the stage of strict law, whereby law became
the pre!ailing means of regulating society through a set of in1e,ible and
inelastic rules. .ts purpose in this stage was to maintain general security by
using tools of certainty and formality in order to pre!ent and settle disputes.
#he third stage is the stage of e"uity2natural law, this stage is characteri&ed
by applying ethical solutions in order to settle actual contro!ersies and to
afect 3ustice within the social machine.
#he fourth stage is the maturity of law. .t is highly characteri&ed by the
keywords of /e"uality0 and /security0 with the championing of property and
contracts as fundamental ideas. Permits the ma,imum of indi!idual self4
assertion.
#he ffth stage is the sociali&ation of law. .t is in this stage where the task of
law is enlarged to two primary functions of both maintaining and furthering
ci!ili&ation.
)i!ili&ation: the social de!elopment of human powers towards their highest possible
unfolding.
#he 3ural postulates of ci!il society.
#he 3urist lays out the lines of creati!e acti!ity of law, and he must
ha!e a clear picture where he by which he will do so.
5uch picture is ascertained through the formulation of the ideas of 3ural
postulates of the ci!ili&ation of the time and place.
.nterpretation of law in terms of a purpose:
6ill make good reasonable e,pectations which their promises or other
conduct reasonably create. 7)ontracts28uasi4)ontracts9
6ill carry out their undertakings according to the e,pectations which
the moral sentiment of the community attaches thereto. 7:ature of
;bligations9
6ill restore specifcally or by e"ui!alent what comes to them by
mistake or unanticipated situation whereby they recei!e, at another*s
e,pense, what they could not reasonable ha!e e,pected to recei!e
under the actual circumstances. 7<n3ust -nrichment9
'dditional postulates:
#hat men must be able to assume that they will be secure in
their 3obs. 7#he 5ecurity of #enure9
#hat men must be able to assume that the enterprise which
employs them or others shall bear the burden of the human
wear and tear caused in its operation. 7=emuneration and
6orker enefts9
#hat men must be able to assume that society as a whole will
bear the risk of harm or misfortune befalling its indi!idual
members. 7-,tended defnition of >
nd
additional postulate9
#he #heory of .nterests
'n /instrumentalist0 interpretation of legal history.
#he claim, want, demand of the indi!idual human being to ha!e, do,
not ha!e to do.
#he concept of /interest0 had not begun until (an reali&ed there were
not enough goods to go around 75carcity9, that the world was
o!ercrowded 7;!erpopulation9, and its resources were e,ploited
#he central problems2issues of /3urisprudence of interests0:
?elimitation of pressing interests at any time
#he in!entory of these interests and classifcation of these
interests
#heir e!aluation
#he law must then decide which interest it shall protect or secure, and in the
e!ent of con1ict of interests, it must then also decide if it will inter!ene at all
and to what end.
$Pound maintains that the taking of an in!entory of interests is toward the actual
assertions of (en in the particular society they li!e on through the use of their
assertions or claims in legal proceedings, and in legislati!e proposals.