Mary Joy M.

Penaflor
Juris Doctor 1A
Philosophy of Law

Comparison of Roscoe Pound and Randy Barnett’s “Why we need Legal Philosophy”
article
As we transverse from ancient philosophy to newly adopted principles of legal
philosophy, different philosophers have introduced different concepts of necessity of legal
philosophy. Some of these philosophers are Roscoe Pound and Randy Barnett that has their own
arguments on this particular topic.

Roscoe Pound view the need of philosophy of law as a direction of the legal system of
society. Social disputes are inevitable as everyone has different way of dealings with people and
things around them which Roscoe argued that philosophy of law should provide principles on
how to mediate between disputes to maintain social order. Roscoe tackled the 3 characteristics of
common law system namely- supremacy of law, case-law and precedent, and contentious
precedent. These three doctrines come down to the fundamental tenet that law exists for
individuals. As a result, every issue must be handled as a contest between individuals, decided on
the basis of each case's unique facts rather than arbitrarily, and allowed to be resolved by the
parties as fairly and independently as possible. As proponent of jurisprudence, Roscoe strongly
believes that Philosophy of Law is necessary in understanding and improving the legal system
which the people will benefit and will enable to adopt to the transitionary needs of the society.

On the other hand, Randy Barnett’s view of need of philosophy of law tackles that
protecting someone’s personal right is also protecting the society’s integrity. Barnett has
introduced different papers in proving his arguments in which the writings that follow cover a
wide range of topics, including theory, theology, practice, and the same topics again. Each is
dedicated to advancing and improving the idea of individual rights in response to emerging
social and technological issues. Randy Barnett and other legal philosophers frequently challenge
and question current legal norms and practices. They use critical analysis to the legal system,
highlighting its contradictions, inefficiencies, or injustices. This critical viewpoint may result in
legal reforms and advancements.

We are called to evaluate laws, doctrines, and institutions in light of the goal of the law
and to consider their social value in order to govern the application of the law. Roscoe and
Barnett’s view of why we need legal philosophy is of the common goal and it is to set law apart
from other normative systems, such as morality or other social customs but they have different
concept as to which and how the legal philosophy will affect the people and society.