jurisprudence

1. the science or philosophy of law

2. a system or body of law

3. a branch of law
www.iisj.es

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

jurisprudence

legal and sociological theories which seek to situate the body of laws and legal institutions in an overall social context. Thus, jurisprudence to some extent overlaps with the SOCIOLOGY OF LAW.

Historically, it is possible to identify the following subdivisions of jurisprudence:

legal positivism, e.g. Kelsen's conception of law as an objectively statable, hierarchical system of norms, or Hart's view of law as resting on ‘basic norms’. This view of law has been seen as ‘in tune’ with traditional legal professionalism, and viewed by its practitioners as involving theories requiring little input from social science. Jeremy BENTHAM's application of utilitarianism to legal reform can also be seen as a form of legal positivism;
natural law theories (see NATURAL RIGHTS AND NATURAL LAW), theories which were a main target of the legal positivists;
historical and evolutionary theories, e.g. MAINE's theories, and Savigny's account of laws as reflecting the custom or Volkgeist of a nation or people;
conflict theories, theories which emphasize the conflicts of interest underlying the formation and social control functions of legal systems, e.g. Roscoe Pound's ‘pluralism’;
legal realism, US approaches influenced by PRAGMATISM, which emphasized the social basis, and fluid, ‘living character’ of law.

All of the above approaches have exerted an influence on the sociology of law, but a recent resurgence of sociolegal studies has owed much to a new vein of empirical sociological studies of legal systems and he operation of the law.

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000

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References in periodicals archive

contemporary jurisprudents such as William Twining, Roger Cotterrell,

The third pillar of jurisprudence: social legal theory

History also featured the persecution of the jurisprudents, the theologians and the scholars in all the Islamic countries.

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Here we address this concern directly as part of the office (or responsibility) of the jurisprudent. We consider the work of two jurisprudents whose concern with the responsibility for the conduct of meeting of laws is addressed through a concern with a grammar of lawful actions.

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It was one jurisprudent "who satisfies the conditions" for custodianship.

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29 Called The Western Financial System Bankrupt And The UNSC Order Illegitimate, Thus Following Imam Khomeini's Directive That The Shi'ite Theocracy Will Impose Its Own Rule Of The Faqih On The Entire World; The Faqih - The Jurisprudent Chosen By An Assembly Of Experts - Is Seen As The Man With The Powers Of The Prophet Muhammad And Al- Mahdi On Earth

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The ABA said the book addresses each of those disciplines from a "jurisprudent science" perspective that explores the science of those disciplines and is targeted to attorneys who are representing a scientist, consulting with a scientist or who need a working knowledge of a particular applied science.

The American Bar Association

of the French Provencal jurisprudent Antoine Arene.

Tous vos gens a latin: le latin, langue savante, langue mondaine (XIVe-XVIIe siecles)

Ray Takeyh, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, claims that the "counterreform" movement that led to Ahmadinejad's victory at the polls is entirely the doing of Iranian chief jurisprudent Ali Khamene'i.

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Both groups advocate strict Islamic law, including the concept of the guardianship of the jurisprudent, or absolute rule by senior clergy.

Man in the iron Mosque: radical Sunni cleric Sheikh Mahdi al-Sumeidayih was held in Abu Ghraib prison--and he and his Salafi followers are hardly in a forgiving mood

Khatami, famed for refusing to confront the hard-liners, at first pleaded with Supreme Jurisprudent Ali Khamenei to intervene.

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A descendant of the famous jurisprudent of German Romanticism, Friedrich Karl von Savigny, he lived from 1900 to 1967, studied law -- as the son of a well-to-do family -- but never practiced it or ever occupied a stable position.

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