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Tuesday 12 March 2013

Schools of Jurisprudential Thought

Schools of Jurisprudential Thought
Ø Natural Law view.
Ø Positivist view.
Ø Historical view.
Ø Legal Realism view.
Natural Law School
Assumes that law, rights and ethics are based on universal moral principals inherent in nature discover able through the human reason.
The oldest view of jurisprudence dating back to Aristotle.
The Declaration assumes natural law, or what Jefferson called “the Laws of Nature.” 
Natural Law: Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
 Letter from the Birmingham Jail,  April 16, 1963. “[T]here are two types of laws:  just and unjust laws.  . . . 
A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law .
An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. 
An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law.”
The Positivist School
Law is the supreme will of the State that applies only to the citizens of that nation at that time.
Law, and therefore rights and ethics, are not universal.
The morality of a law, or whether the law is “bad or good,” is irrelevant.
The Historical School
Emphasizes the evolutionary process of law
Concentrates on the origins of the legal system
Law derives its legitimacy and authority from standards that have withstood the test of time.
Follows decisions of earlier cases

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