MEANING

• Roman origins. Latin words, “Juris”

meaning “law’’ and ‘’Prudentia”
meaning ‘’knowledge/ foresight, etc.’’.
• Latin equivalent of Jurisprudence =
Jurisprudentia meaning “knowledge of
law’’ or ‘’skill of law’’.
• Inquiry into:
 nature of law,
 sources of law,
 basic elements of law,
 Legal Theory
• Used to describe legal connections of
any body of knowledge- ‘Medical
Jurisprudence’, ‘Architectural
Jurisprudence’, etc.
 ULPIAN

“The knowledge of things divine and human, the

science of just and unjust.’’
 JOHN SALMOND

“Science of the first principles of the civil

law.”
• (Expository or Systematic Jurisprudence present)

• Historical Jurisprudence (past)

• Critical Jurisprudence or the Science of

Legislation (future, how the law ought to be)
 SIR THOMAS
ERSKINE HOLLAND

“the formal science of positive law”

(Form, i.e., external side of the subject

and not the essence, i.e., its internal
contents.)
 JOHN AUSTIN Click icon to add picture

“philosophy of positive law”

• General Jurisprudence (concerned with principles and

distinctions which are common to various systems of
particular and positive law)

• Particular Jurisprudence (the science of any actual system

of law or of any portion of it)
 ROSCOE POUND

“Science of social engineering”

ROBERT ERNEST KEETON

“the study and systematic arrangement

of the general principles of law.”
 JULIUS STONE

“The lawyers’ extraversion. It is the lawyer’s

examination of the precepts, ideals, and
techniques of the law in the light derived from
present knowledge in disciplines other than
the law.”
TRADITIONAL JURISTS:
1. Jeremy Bentham
2. John Austin
3. Holland
4. Pollock
5. Salmond
6. Kelson
CONTEMPORARY JURISTS:
1. Roscoe Pound
2. H.L.A. Hart
3. Julius Stone
4. V.R. Krishna Iyer
5. P.N. Bhagwati
6. Upendra Baxi
Law and Ethics

in the eye of
justice
 NATURE & VALUE
• Investigation into the abstract, general and theoretical nature of law. Some points under
investigation include:
 Pros and cons of codification,
 Methods of judicial reasoning,
 Value of a strict system of judicial precedent, etc.
• Deals with why the questions, rather than what the questions are.
• Distinguishes law from morality, etiquette and other related phenomena.
• Attempts to look at the actual working of an authority within a particular system.
• Abstract study of the concepts of ‘right’, ‘duty’, ‘intention’, ‘negligence’, ‘ownership’,
‘possession’, etc. against the background of ordinary language to understand the relation
between law and legal usage.
• The jurist assumes the role of a logician by elucidating legal notions, removing confusion
and constructing a synthesis of legal concepts.
 NATURE & VALUE
• Undertakes the task of linking law with other disciplines to locate law within a wider
social context and the changing economic and political attitudes.
• Helps in formulation of general principles from individual cases. Eg.: the English Law
relating to Negligence.
• Has an educational value. Provides a logical analysis of legal concepts which sharpens
the lawyer’s technique and broadens his understanding.
• Helps in checking the vices of legal formalism by accommodating present social needs
rather than the distilled wisdom of the past.
• Not concerned with derivation and application of rules, rather reflects on the nature
of rules, on the underlying meanings of the concept and on the essential features of
legal systems.
• Is not derived from authority.
 NATURE & VALUE
• Harold Laski calls Jurisprudence the “eye of law”.
• Provides logical training to the lawyer by training the critical faculties to detect fallacies and
use accurate legal terminology and expression.
• It is the grammar of law:
 Helps legislators acquaint with precise and unambiguous terminology.
 Helps judges in ascertaining true meanings of the laws passed by the legislatures by
providing the rules of interpretation.
• J.G. Phillimore, “Such is the exalted science of jurisprudence, the knowledge of which sends
the students into civil life, full of luminous precepts and notions, applicable to every
exigency of human affairs.”
• Helps in improvement of law in the context of prevailing socio-economic and political
philosophies.
• Prof. R.W.M. Dias, “…Teachers of law hope to encourage their pupils to learn how to think
rather than what to know and jurisprudence is peculiarly suited to this end.”
 JURISPRUDENCE AND OTHER SOCIAL SCIENCES

1. JURISPRUDENCE AND ETHICS

Ethics is a branch of knowledge deals with human conduct and lays down the ideas of
human behavior.
2. JURISPRUDENCE AND HISTORY
History studies past events in their different perspectives.
3. JURISPRUDENCE AND SOCIOLOGY
Sociology is the study of groups and group interactions, societies and social interactions,
from small and personal groups to very large groups.
4. JURISPRUDENCE AND ECONOMICS
Economics studies man’s efforts in satisfying his wants and producing and distributing
wealth. The intimate relation between economics and jurisprudence was first noticed by
Karl Marx.
 JURISPRUDENCE AND OTHER SOCIAL SCIENCES

5. JURISPRUDENCE AND POLITICS

Politics is the science of government. Good government depends upon good laws.
6. JURISPRUDENCE AND PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology as a branch of knowledge is concerned with the working of brain or mental facility.
Since jurisprudence and law are necessarily concerned with human action and it is the human
mind which control human action, the inter-relation between psychology and jurisprudence
need not be overemphasized.
7. JURISPRUDENCE AND PHILOSOPHY
As a philosophy of the law, jurisprudence deals not merely analytically or historically, but
critically. As in philosophy, Jurisprudentia examines whether the law is as it out ought to be.
8. JURISPRUDENCE AND ENVIRONMENT LAW
Environment law is an instrument to protect and improve the environment and to control or
prevent any act or omission polluting or likely to pollute the environment. Evolution of
environmental jurisprudence in India is marked by numerous Public Interest Litigations filed
and decided by courts.