Jurisprudence: Meaning and Nature

 Definitions of Jurisprudence

Introduction

Jurisprudence involves the study of general theoretical question about the nature of law and legal systems, about the relationship of law to justice, morality and about the social nature of law.

Jurisprudence is concerned with the regulation  of human behaviour in congruence with the set rules, regulations, needs and values of the society.

Hindu Jurisprudence

The Hindu Jurisprudence is related to the Hindu laws and customs. This defines how an ideal man should be supposed to regulate in the society. The ultimate aim of a man is to attain salvation. This is termed as 'Moksha' under Hindu Jurisprudence.

Meaning and Definition of Jurisprudence

The word 'Jurisprudence' is derived from the Latin word 'Jurisprudentia' which means 'knowledge of law'. In Latin language, 'jure' or 'juris' means law and 'prudentia' means skills or knowledge. 

Ultopian termed jurisprudence as the observation of things or divine, the knowledge of the just and unjust. Thus, jurisprudence at that time was mixed with theology. 

According to Bentham jurisprudence talks about 'expository' and censorial' jurisprudence. Expository ascertains what law is. Censorial jurisprudence talks about what law ought to be. 

For Patterson, the term jurisprudence means a body of ordered knowledge, which deals with a particular species of law.

For Julius Stone, jurisprudence means Lawyer's extroversion. 

For Ogden, jurisprudence means any thought or writing about law (other than the technical exposition of the branch of law itself.)

According to GC Lee, jurisprudence is a science which endeavours to ascertain the fundamental principles of which the law is an expression. 

Austin's definition

Austin defines 'jurisprudence' as the 'science of law which deals with analysis of the concepts or its underlying principles.' He further classified the jurisprudence into 'particular jurisprudence' and 'general jurisprudence'. 

    Gray also accepted such a classification of law as done by Austin.

Holland's definition

Holland defines jurisprudence as 'the formal science of positive law.' According to Holland, formal science is that which deals with the various relations which would regulate the rules themselves which regulate those relations.

Salmond's definition

According to Salmond, jurisprudence can be defined in two senses i.e in a 'Generic Sense' as the science of 'Civil Law' or in a specific sense as the science of the first principle of civil law. 

        According to Salmond, the 'general law' is different from 'civil law'. The 'civil law' is particular to a specific community. It is specific. It is also called the law of the land.

Gray's definition

According to Gray, jurisprudence is the science of law i.e. systematic arrangement of rules followed by courts and principles underlying them. 

According to Gray, jurisprudence can be classified as:

1. Particular jurisprudence

        Related to a particular community.

2. Comparative jurisprudence
        Related to the comparison of laws or two or more communities.

3.General jurisprudence
        Related to the comparison of all the legal systems of the world.

Jurisprudence of Judicial Strictures

Judicial restrains are necessary to be demarcated for the orderly administration of the justice. For the same reasons, we see that there are judicial strictures, which limits the powers of the governing bodies to become absolute dictator. These principles define what is the jurisdiction, which principles are ultra vires. It is similar to the concept of constitutionalism in Indian Constitution.

The jurisprudence of Environment Laws

Jurists or legal scientists love to define jurisprudence as the science of social engineering. It is similar to biotechnology in the case of law.

We can observe that the term environment  laws can also have very sub heads related to it. It is about the reasoning and the organic thought of jumping from one idea to another.

 

Understanding of Law

When jurists or lawyers define law, the assumption adopted is that the reader or a layperson knows nothing of law and  proceed to provide an introduction to the intricaties of the statute law. Here the jurists ignore the common knowledge popular in pop culture or civil societies. For the explanation of each of the provision clearly, various jurists try to explain the same thing in their own words, to make it easy to understand for the general public at large. This introduced jurisprudence.

Conclusion

From the above discussion we see that jurisprudence forms a vital part of the study of law. We see directive principle, which are fundamental in the governance are also a set of principles which help in the proper guidance and moral force to the country's overall administration. Thus, it is correct to say that jurisprudence is the social, political, economic outlook which changes in various conditions and according to the nation's need and time. It is increasing its scope tremendously at an exponential level.