The Theories Of Law

 

The Concept Of The Theories Of Law

The goal of legal theory is to provide a context for the legal, moral, philosophical, and societal influences that have an impact on the English legal system.

The subject matter aims to increase students' critical awareness of the challenges and complexities that affect the legal environment by providing this knowledge.

Students will examine abstract arguments and develop a critical approach to them. These investigations will take place in tandem with the evaluation of authorities and attitudes in order to investigate legal issues.

You'll have to evaluate these laws throughout your studies, from their origins to current considerations about their place in the modern framework.

In other words Theories of law are a collection of different scholars' beliefs. Implicit and explicit legal theories are common. Below, we'll discuss few of those most popular theories for the purpose of this write up.

The most appreciated theory of law include 

1. The Natural Law theory

2. Historical law theory

3. The Positivist law theory

4. The pure law theory

5. Sociological law theory

6. Utilitarian law theory

For the purpose of this write each of those theory will be discuss in details below

The Natural Law theory

This is the first school of law, and its most prominent proponents include; Socrates, Grotius, Thomas Aquinas, Plato and Zeno,to this extent the term "natural law" simply refers to what is just and proper. Naturalists believe that man is born with certain rules that tell him what is right and just, and that these rules motivate him to do good and avoid evil. It is perceived by man through reason, and it consists of those laws that man will readily agree are just and necessary for society in his wisdom.

Natural law theory is a philosophy based on the idea that there are natural laws that govern human behavior. There are many different versions of this theory, but they all describe what makes humans do the things they do. Natural law theorists believe that people have an innate sense of right and wrong, and will naturally follow patterns of thought and action when left alone with their own thoughts.

The protagonists of this school of thought (theory) merged law and morality because they believe that in order for a Man Made Law to be valid, it must adhere to basic moral principles.

In generally natural law is universal, meaning it applies to everyone and everything. Murder, for example, is frowned upon throughout the world. Just laws (fairness) bind in conscience, while unjust laws (antiquities) do not. This is one of the basic ideas of law.

The historical theory of law

This theory was proposed by Fredrich Von Savigny, a German aristocrat, to counter the natural law theory that influenced the overthrow of monarchs in 17th and 18th century Europe.

Customary law is the primary source of law, according to this theory. It is believed that proper law must be consistent with popular custom. The "Volgeist," which refers to the people's spirit and what binds them together, is the name given to this tradition. Von Savigny prefers the evolution of law theory to the natural law theory because he is an aristocrat who wants to maintain the status quo.

The Positive law theory

The term "positive law" comes from the word "posit," which means "to put" or "to place." As a result, positive law is the law that our rulers have enacted or imposed on us.

John Austin was the driving force behind this legal theory (1790-1859). In his book "The Province of Jurisprudence Determined," published in 1832, he proposed the command theory of law, which defined law as follow:

"a command set by a superior being to an inferior being to an inferior being and enforced by sanction.’’

Thus, any law made by the sovereign or persons legally empowered to make such laws that has a binding effect on the people in general is referred to as positive law.

The pure theory of law

Hans Kelson proposed it as a counterargument to the command theory. According to Kelson, law is a norm, and in order for it to be valid, it must be created by a norm that was created by a higher norm within the legal order. A norm's validity is traced back to a higher norm until it reaches the grundnorm, which is the legal order's final authority. It instructs us on what we should and should not do.

Sociological law theory

Eugene Ehrlich and Roscoe Pound are the leading proponents of this legal theory. Eugene Erlich believes that the meaning of law is determined by societal values and behavior, i.e., how society acts determines the type of law that will be enacted. When a society refuses to recognize a law, it loses its ability to function as a social control mechanism.

However, Roscoe Pound believes that in order to satisfy human desires, competing claims must be balanced in order to avoid disruptions in established institutions.

The Utilitarian Theory of Law

It was Jeremy Bentham who proposed it (1748-1832). The purpose of law, it claims, is to promote communal utility that benefits society as a whole. In this context, utility refers to happiness. The greater the number of good people, the more appropriate laws should be made in society. He identifies four basic utilities: security, equality, liberty, and abundance. The most important goal is security. For example, in order to ensure society's security, the law allows police to invade the privacy of a suspected armed robber, robbing him of his liberty.

Conclusion: 

Summing up the article, we can say that there is a lot about law theory. It’s a complex topic with many points to discuss and analyze. That’s why it’s good to start from basics, spend some time learning the foundations of this discipline before going into more complicated concepts.

Theory of law helps us understand the underlying reasons behind laws and other legal institutions; it provides an understanding of different issues in the field of law.