The philosophy of law, or the science which treats of the prin- ciples of positive law and legal relatious. “The term is wrongly applied to actual systems of law, or to current views of law, or to suggestions for its amendment, but is the name of a science. This science is a formal, or analytical, rather than a material, one. It is the science of actual or positive law. It is wrongly divided into ‘general’ and ‘ particular ,’ or into ‘philosophical’ and ‘historical.’ It may therefore be deiined as the formal science of positive law.” Ho 11. Jur. 12. In the proper sense of the word, ” jurisprudence ” is the science of law, namely, that science which has for its function to ascertain the principles on which legal rules are based, so as not only to classify those rules in their proper order, and show the relation in which they stand to one another, but also to settle the manner in which new or doubtful cases should be brought under the appropriate rules. Jurisprudence is more a formal than a material science. It has no direct concern with questions of moral or po- litical policy, for they fall under the province of ethics and legislation ; but, when a new or doubtful case arises to which two different rules seem, when taken literally, to be equally applicable, it may be, and often is, the function of jurisprudence to consider the ultimate effect which would be produced if each rule were applied to an indefinite number of similar cases, and to choose that rule which, when so applied, will produce the greatest advantage to the community. Sweet.
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
