Jurisprudence asks questions that statutes do not answer: what makes a rule a legal rule, where its authority comes from, and how far a judge may go in interpreting it. These questions sound abstract until an argument turns on the purpose of a provision rather than its literal words.
These notes introduce the principal schools of legal thought and the working vocabulary of legal theory, with Indian illustrations where they help.
Contents
- What jurisprudence studies
- Analytical, natural law and sociological schools
- Sources of law: legislation, precedent, custom
- Rights, duties, liberties and powers
- Legal personality
- Interpretation: literal, purposive and harmonious construction
- Why theory matters in argument
Key concepts
- Positive law
- Law as it is laid down by a recognised authority, studied separately from questions of morality.
- Natural law
- The view that legal validity is connected to underlying moral principles, influential in the reasoning behind fundamental rights.
- Precedent
- The binding force of a prior decision on the same question of law, and the distinction between the ratio decidendi and passing observations.
- Custom
- Long, uniform and reasonable usage that courts recognise as law, subject to statute.
- Legal person
- Any entity — human or otherwise — that the law recognises as capable of holding rights and bearing duties.
Topics covered
- Schools of jurisprudence and their assumptions
- Hierarchy and interaction of sources of law
- Correlation of rights and duties
- Rules of statutory interpretation
- Role of precedent in the Indian system
These notes are educational material prepared for general understanding of legal principles. They are not legal advice, are not exhaustive, and must not be relied upon in place of professional advice on a specific matter.