As Jurisprudence nowadays has been treated as a science of social control of human conduct, hence a comprehensive basis of classification of jurisprudence into different schools according to the legal philosophy has become all the more necessary.
There is no unanimous formula regarding the classification/grouping of school. Some jurist justified this division in the interest of uniformity again others did not feel the need of different schools for jurisprudence.
SALMOND preferred to divide jurisprudence into three major schools:
- Imperative School / Analytical School
- Historical School
- Philosophical / Ethical school
1. Imperative School / Analytical School:
This school of jurisprudence tries to find out the relation between the law and the morality. This school expresses that law is the result of the demand of morality.. According to this view ‘law is mandatory for all; all are equal in the eye of law and entitled to equal protection of law.’
The exponent of analytical school of jurisprudence considers that the most important aspect of law is its relation to the State. The school is therefore, also called the Imperative school of jurisprudence.
Again the Advocates of this school are neither concerned with the past of the law nor with the future of it, but they confine themselves to the study of law, as it exists. The school is therefore, also called the Positive school of jurisprudence.
Prof. John Austin is the founder of the Imperative School or Analytical School of jurisprudence. By Positive Law, Austin meant that, ‘law is the command of the sovereign’ which mean the aggregate of rules set by men as politically superior to man.
2. Historical School:
Historical jurisprudence deals with law as it appears in its various forms at its several stages of development. It holds fast the thread, which binds together the modern and primitive conception of law, and seeks to trace through all the tangled mazes, which separate the two, the line of the connection between them.
Prof. Savigny is the founder of the Historical School of jurisprudence. This school of jurisprudence tries to find out the relation between the law and the history. This school expresses that law is the result of the historical study of custom. This school deals with the origin and development of law within its historical background. According to this view, law developed day by day according to historical demand.
About the nature and functions of the historical school of jurisprudence, Prof. G. G. Lee refers that; ‘historical jurisprudence deals with law as it appears in its various forms at its several stages of development.’
3. Philosophical / Ethical school:
The Philosophical/Ethical school of jurisprudence tries to find out the relation with the law with the human morality and conduct. According to this school, the purpose of law is to maintain justice and order in society and legal restrictions can be justified only if they promote the freedom of individuals in society. Thus, philosophical jurisprudence became the common ground of moral and legal philosophy and ethics and of jurisprudence.
Hugo Grotius, Kant, Hegal and Sebelling are considered as the main exponents of the ethical or philosophical jurisprudence.
Other than the above mentioned schools, there are few more schools which are important to understand the basis of Jurisprudence.
- Sociological School
- Comparative School
- Functional School
- Anthropological School
- Teleological School
9. Veinnese School
4. Sociological School:
Prof. Salmond, Prof. Dayas and Dean Rosco Pound are the founder of the Sociological School of jurisprudence. This school of jurisprudence tries to find out the relation between the law and the society. This school expresses that law is the result of the demand of the society. The main feature of this school is to find out the social demand and develop the law according to this demand.
About the nature and functions of the jurisprudence Dean Rosco Pound refers that “Jurisprudence is a science of social engineering.”
5. Comparative School:
Prof. Allan, Prof. Jeramy Hall and Prof. Gatarize are the founder of the Comparative School of jurisprudence. This school of jurisprudence tries to find out the relation between the law and its comparative study. This school expresses that law is the result of the comparative study of the various legal systems. This school also deals with the comparative study of the historical development of law. The main feature of this school is to find out the actual status and position of law by comparative study.
6. Functional School:
Prof. Patton is the founder of the Functional School of jurisprudence. This school of jurisprudence tries to find out the relation between the law and its functions. This school expresses that law is the result of its implementation. The main feature of this school is to find out the jurisdictions of law, its operational area and its enforcement.
7. Anthropological School:
Sir Henry Main is the founder of the Anthropological School of jurisprudence. This school of jurisprudence tries to find out the relation between the law and the older human conduct. This school expresses that law is the result of the development of the human conduct.
8. Teleological School:
The Teleological school of jurisprudence tries to find out the relation between the law and its aims and purposes. This school expresses that law is the result of the knowledge of just and unjust. The main feature of this school is to find out the method of study of just and unjust for administration of justice.
10. Veinna School:
The ‘Pure Theory of Law’ which is also known as the ‘ Veinna School’ of legal thought was propounded by Prof. Hans Kelsen who is called the founder of the Veinnese School of jurisprudence. This school of jurisprudence tries to find out the relation between the law and the Science. This school expresses that law is the result of the scientific analyses. The main feature of this school is to make the law in a method of scientific frame.
