Value to the Law Student of a

Course in Jurisprudence
Dr. Manoranjan Kumar
Assistant Professor
CNLU, Patna
 Beginning
• High hopes and healthy interest
• Uninspired and uninformed
• Materials are enough
 Value of the Course
• Value to the law student“?”
• Students find the course
– Esoteric
– Murky
– Impractical
• Teachers are unaware of their students’
reaction.
 Reaction
Students Teachers

• Have no self-interest • Self-interest

• Justification of the course • Sufficient Justification.
remains questionable?
 Justifications: Brief Account
• Integrative function
• Law students have in fact many things to
integrate. The whole new world of torts,
crimes, contracts, corporations, easements,
wills and the rest, begs for some unity not
only within itself but with the other more
familiar world which as a college student you
were struggling to understand.
 Justifications
• Acquaintance with the Contrariety of opinion
even on basic issues helps in cultivating
important habits of mind and outlook.
• Toleration of the varying philosophical
perspectives
• Critical attitude towards the views
• Awareness of the -paucity of reliable social
knowledge
• self-confidence
 Practical or not?

• All said and done, “are the philosophic

exercises of jurisprudence ‘practical’?”
• What do you think?
• What does author say?
 Author’s Opinion
• Familiarity with the philosophical theories
helps in understanding the law.
– Insanity as an exception
– Intoxication as qualified/limited exception
– Theories of punishment
– Constitutional law jurisprudence
– Basic concepts that are taken for granted
– Word Analysis
 Author’s Opinion
• Facilitates the intelligent handling of the
materials and increases the proficiency.
• Whole “approach” towards a problem will
vary depending upon the particular
jurisprudential assumptions.
• Facilitates the studies of relations of legalistic
“law” with the other social science subjects.
• People study for “joy” rather than any practical
utility.
Thank You