Jurisprudence

What is Jurisprudence

Jurisprudence is ‘the Eyes of Law.’ In the human body, the eyes are one of its most essential parts. Most of the human activities and movements of a man’s body are possible only through them. Unless a man can see anything correctly, he can’t do any work properly. Jurisprudence is called the ‘the eye of law’ because jurisprudence functions for law like eyes do for the human body.

For example: It is a difficult task to interpret the law. Students and even lawyers sometimes fail to reach to the intention of the legislature while interpreting the law. This is where jurisprudence assists them and makes decoding the law easy.

Significance of Jurisprudence:

• Jurisprudence is essential for the practical applicability of law in society.
• Many Juris call jurisprudence as the eye of law because it gives a basic idea and fundamental concepts of law.
• Jurisprudence helps lawyers and judges in the interpretation of rules and regulations passed by the legislature.
• Study of jurisprudence helps law students to prepare them for good civil life by study of law to various aspects.

Relation of Jurisprudence with other Social Sciences:

Jurisprudence and other social sciences are connected with human behavior, so we can say that they’re very closely related to each other.

According to Roscoe Pound, “Jurisprudence is closely related to ethics, economics, politics, and sociology. All the social sciences must co-ordinate with jurisprudence to make it a fundamental branch of knowledge.”

According to G.W. Paton, the interrelationship between law and sociology has been defined for three reasons:

Jurisprudence enables a better understanding of rising and development of law.
It provides a great platform for rising and development of the law with human needs and Social interest.
Jurisprudence provides an object to the legal interpretation of laws according to their needs, so that we can say that without social interaction, the law would remain a mere theoretical perception without any practical utility.

Function of Jurisprudence

The core function of jurisprudence is to study the origin of law; From where a particular law has developed and traces back its origin as to how that law has contributed towards society. The matters related to birth, marriages, death, succession, etc., are equally controlled through laws. As a result, jurisprudence has a lot of applications in civil life.

Nature of Jurisprudence

Jurisprudence, in its nature, is a different subject. It is neither a procedural subject nor a substantive subject. It is the mainstream of whole law, from where the different laws originate. It is not a codified law like the Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code, or the Constitution. Jurisprudence being an ever-growing and dynamic subject has no limitation on itself.

Jurisprudence in Daily Life

“Ignorance of the law is no excuse” is a saying well known throughout the world. Therefore, it is of prime importance to understand the correct basic principles of law which are contained only in jurisprudence. It is therefore mandatory that all the people in the country, whether they belong to the fraternity of law or not, should have the sound knowledge of the law.

Different schools of jurisprudence

The different approaches or theories regarding jurisprudence have led to the formation of different schools of jurisprudence. The different schools of jurisprudence are:

Philosophical school or Natural school

The philosophical school of jurisprudence mainly focuses on the aim that the law intends to achieve. It tries to decode the reason behind the establishment of the legal system. Grotius, Immanuel Kant, Hegel were the notable jurists of this school. They further stated that the law is for the benefit of the people. According to Grotius, moral ethics in natural law was prevalent for all irrespective of whether someone is Christian or not. Grotius, Locke, and Rosseau stated that the social contract was important in the life of humans. 

Historical school

The historical form of school mainly focuses on the customs, traditions, ethics, etc followed by people from the immemorial time. The origin of the historical school of jurisprudence is believed to be the evolution of law since long back. Savigny, Henry, Edmund are considered the notable jurists of this form of school. Savigny is known as the father of the historical school of jurisprudence. He has given the Volksgeist theory, which shows that law is based upon the free will of the common people. This theory further states that the evolution of law happens with the growth of nations, and law dies with the dissolution of nations. The heart of this theory is the consciousness of people. 

Realist school

The origin of the realist school is in American jurisprudence. The realist school mainly focuses on the practical view rather than abstract ideologies. It is more concerned about what the court may do rather than ideologies present behind the general rules of law. This school believes in the social investigation regarding studying the functions of law. Oliver Holmes, Karl Llewellyn are some of the notable jurists of this school.

Sociological school

The sociological school of jurisprudence is the amalgamation of the thoughts of various jurists. This form of school regards law as a social function. This form of school tries to analyze the expressions of people, the laws of society, and the relation between law and society. Montesquieu, Auguste, Comte Spencer, Herber, etc are the chief exponents of this theory. 

Analytical school

The origin of the analytical school of jurisprudence dates back to the 19th century. The emergence of this school is from civil law. This form of school is based upon the positive approach towards law. The purpose of the analytical school of law was to understand the principles of law without the reference of a historic approach and also to gain a proper understanding of the fundamentals of law. This form of school emphasized the laws “as it is”. 

The analytical school provided us with precision in legal thinking, scientific terms, and excluded such areas which go beyond the scope of the law. The chief exponents of this school are Jeremy Bentham, John Austin, Salmond, Holland, Hart, etc. Bentham proposed the imperative theory of law and also drew distinctions between social desirability and logical necessity. Austin, on the other hand, did not support the latter part. According to him, jurisprudence is the formal analysis of the concept of law. His division of jurisprudence into general and particular jurisprudence was based on a positive outlook towards law.

The relation of politics and jurisprudence

In India, the judiciary holds an independent space along with the executive and legislation. India has followed the idea of separation of powers. However, the application of such doctrine was quite impossible in reality. In the case of Ram Jawaya v. State of Punjab (1955), it was observed that the different organs of government would perform their functions, however, at times, they might perform the functions of other organs, to a certain limit. Some of the spheres which highlight the relation between politics and jurisprudence are the appointment of the judges, judges transfer, appointing Chief Justice of India, etc. However, it is observed that the total separation of the three functions of organs cannot take place in reality. Thus, the judiciary will be interlinked to some extent, but it should be taken into account that the influence of the other organs must not go beyond a limit that might disrupt the true sense of justice.

Conclusion

The study of jurisprudence helps one remove the complications in the understanding of legal concepts. It helps the mind in creating logic and understanding the reason behind such legal concepts. Even the lawyers and judges take the help of jurisprudence for the interpretation of some rules. A law student must read jurisprudence to understand the depth of the concept of law and create a solid foundation in one’s mind. Jurisprudence is also known as the ‘eye ‘ of the law.