Nature and Scope of Jurisprudence 1 .docx - Nature and...

Nature and Scope of Jurisprudence
What is Jurisprudence?
There is no universal or uniform definition of Jurisprudence since people have different
ideologies and notions throughout the world. It is a very vast subject.
When an author talks about political conditions of his society, it reflects that condition of law
prevailing at that time.
Romans were the first who started to study what is law.
Jurisprudence - Latin word ‘Jurisprudentia’ - Knowledge of Law or Skill in Law.
Most of our law has been taken from Common Law System.
Bentham is known as Father of Jurisprudence. Austin took his work further.
Bentham was the first one to analyse what is law. He divided his study into two parts:
1. Examination of Law as it is- Expositorial- Command of Sovereign.
2. Examination of Law as it ought to be- Censorial- Morality of Law.
Austin stuck to the idea that law is command of sovereign. The structure of English Legal
System remained with the formal analysis of law and never thought what it ought to be.
J. Stone also tried to define Jurisprudence. He says that it is a lawyer’s extra version. It is
lawyer’s examination of the percept, ideas and techniques of law in the light derived from
present knowledge in disciplines other than the law.
There can be no goodness or badness in law. Law is made by the state so there could be
nothing good or bad about it. Jurisprudence is the science of law.
Definitions by:
1. Austin
2. Holland
3. Salmond
4. Keeton
5. Pound
6. Dias and Hughes
Austin - Science of Jurisprudence is concerned with Positive Laws that is laws strictly so
called. It has nothing to do with the goodness or badness of law.
Two Parts:
1. General Jurisprudence- It includes such subjects or ends of law as are common to all system.
2. Particular Jurisprudence- It is the science of any actual system of law or any portion of it.
In essence they are same but in scope they are different.
Salmond’s Criticism
He said that for a concept to be General Jurisprudence, it should be common in various
systems of law. This is not always true.
Holland’s Criticism
He said that it is only the material which is particular and not the science itself.
Holland’s Definition - Jurisprudence means the formal science of positive laws. It is
analytical science rather than material science.

1. He defines the term positive law. He says that the positive law means the general rule of
external human action enforced by a sovereign political authority.
2. He simply added the word ‘formal’ in Austin’s definition. Formal means we study only the
form and not the essence. We study only the external features and do not go into the
intricacies. How it is applied and how it is particular that is not the concern of Jurisprudence.