What is jurisprudence?Jurisprudence in its limited sense means evolution of general principles upon which actual rules of law are based. It is concerned with rules of external conductwhich persons are constrained to obey. There for ethemologically jurisprudence is that science which imparts to us knowledge about lawJurisprudence has been used in different senses sometimes it means law, sometimes it means as philosophy of law and sometimes as science of law. W.Friedman in 1945 used legal theory for jurisprudence and now there is a tendency to prefer legal theory in place of jurisprudence.Jurisprudence has been derived from the Latin word “jurisprudentio”; it means k

nowledge of law .In Latin language jure or juris means law or prudential means skill or knowledge. Therefore jurisprudence signifies a practical knowledge of law and its application but today it is not used in this sense. In law it is refused as a body of judicial incidents as distinguished from status & expert opinionon etc.

In Germany it is termed as “rechts philosophic” i.e. philosophy of right (the law is the abstract sense. In Greece and Rome the jurisprudence was mixed with thetheology. It was termed as renaissance when law was separated. In Hindu law we

get the trace of mixing these two because in it legal rights are mixed with religious rights.In the 19th century jurist did jurisprudence as science of law. Amos in 1874 defined jurisprudence as science of law. At this stage the legal philosophy was separated from political philosophy and the jurisprudence was separated from. Jurisprudence was developed as a separated science. Before Amos, Bentham divided thejurisprudence in two parts expostirio(what the law is) and censorio(what the lawought to be).

 MeaningJurisprudence was understood in different senses for different jurists. For anyjurist it was impossible to study the entire dimension of jurisprudence from allangles. The jurist named the various dimension of jurisprudence but for proper

study of the subject, they select a particular field and confine themselves to that area. For this reason no single definition can be signally accepted for jurisprudence:-Austin:-Austin’s main work is “Lectures on Jurisprudence”. It was collected posthumousl

y by his wife. He defined jurisprudence as “a science of law which concerns withanalysis of concept or its underline principles. Austin the appropriate subjectof jurisprudence is positive law i.e. existing to him jurisprudence is not a mo

ral philosophy but it is a systematic study of actual law. Jurisprudence has nothing to do with goodness or badness of law. For a jurist the morality of law isindefinite. He divided the study of Jurisprudence into general and particular Jurisprudence, which includes such subject or ends of law which are common to allsystem.While particular Jurisprudence is confined only to actual system of law or any portion of law. The particular Jurisprudence is the particular one for example Possession is one of the fundamental legal concepts known to all system of law. Itis the function of Jurisprudence to explain its character and determine the con

ditions, under which it is acquired, transferred or extinguishedGeneral Jurisprudence discharges this function without any particular system oflaw particular jurisprudence would also do same thing but with a particular system of law i.e. it would analyze, systemize and explain, how the nature and scopeof possession has been defined or delimited by any particular system of law.

Gray:-Gray accepted the classification of Austin though he preferred the term compara

tive Jurisprudence in place of general Jurisprudence.Salmond and Jethrow Brown:-They repudiated the concept of general jurisprudence. The only kind of jurisprudence of is particular Jurisprudence. Salmond considered jurisprudence as the sci

 

ence as a science of civil law. Jurist of historical school also denied the existence of general Jurisprudence. According to them law is like language bows andevolve in this process of evolution it is conditioned by local factors eg. political, geographical, religious & historical. These local factors differ from cityto city and consequentially only a particular jurisprudence is possible.

Holland:-He objects to Austin’s concept of particular Jurisprudence. If Jurisprudence isa science then like all sciences it must be general and it is meaning to call itparticular. He further says that it is like geology to call the study of compos

ition and structure of earth. The analytical approach of Austin was more concrete, understandable and particular. It attracted the attention of the jurist in the countries. Holland defined jurisprudence as the formal science of law. By formal science he means the dealing with various relations which are regulated by legal rules themselves which regulate those relations. Material science supplies the fact while formal science of jurisprudence elucidated meaning of the relationregulated by law eg. Jurisprudence explains the legal aspect of marriage and it

s connection with property and family. Secondly, Holland like Austin is concerned with positive law he is not concerned with law as it ought to be or the objectof the law. Gray has criticized Holland saying that material roles of law is toclay relation governed by those rules, like bricks as bricks cannot be made wit

hout clay. There cannot be a relationship without material rule. Dias and Hugheshave criticized Holland’s analogy. Law as a social institution and structure ofsociety differs in objective, condition and environment.

Buckland:-He holds that the principles of geology may be elaborated from the geology of England & Rome. The geology may be the same all over the world but law is not a mechanical structure like geological deposits.Salmond:-Salmond also criticized the Holland’s dejection of particular Jurisprudence. According to Salmond Jurisprudence can be defined n two sense1) Generic sense2) Specific senseIn generic sense means science of civil law (law of land).In specific sense, it means science of the first principle of civil law.Jurisprudence inGeneric senseSalmond agrees with Austin and Holland to extent that Jurisprudence is the science of basic principles of legal system. The civil law is the law of land which is administered by the court in administration of justice. On this point he differed with Austin and Holland as he narrowed the field of Jurisprudence. The studyof Jurisprudence is today not confined to the study of law as administered by c

ourt of justice but it takes note of social life of society.General Jurisprudence is not the study of legal system in general but general orfundamental element of the legal system.

Generic sense1) Legal disposition2) Legal history3) Science of legislatureLegal disposition means the purpose is to set forth the content of the actual legal system at any time past or present.Legal history is to set forth the historical process of any legal system. What it is? And, what it was?Science of legislature does not see the present or past but the ideal future oflaw.Jurisprudence in Specific sense1) Analytical Jurisprudence.2) Historical Jurisprudence.3) Ethical Jurisprudence.AnalyticalTo study the first principle of law historical origin and ethical are examined and not its validity.

 

HistoricalIt governs he general principle, origin and development of law. The history i

ncludes study of first principle and construction of legal system.Ethicalto study ethical significance and the adequacy of law. The purpose for which itexists and the manner and measure of the purpose which is to be full filled.

Gray:-Defined jurisprudence as science of law i.e. systematic arrangement of rules followed by the courts and principle underlining them. He divides Jurisprudence into three classes:-1) Particular Jurisprudence:-science of law of a particular community.2) General Jurisprudence:-comparison of law of two or more community.3) Comparative Jurisprudence:-comparison of all legal system of the world.Stone has criticized the gray’s approach and said that he failed to determine any province of jurisprudence and rather he reduced Jurisprudence to merely a matter of rules.ConclusionEven after criticism of Austin it can be safely said that Austin’s definition i

s more correct. Has widened the scope of Jurisprudence by classifying it in to two categories:-1) General Jurisprudence2) Particular Jurisprudence