Jurisprudence 3rd Edition

Jurisprudence, third edition, is a welcome and expanded new edition of this popular text book, fully updated the new edition includes several new chapters on ‘Constitutional Jurisprudence’. This new edition will form part of the successful and student focused Clarus Press ‘Core Text Series’.

The book is divided into six parts. Part One, The Nature of Jurisprudence, and Part Two, Legal Theory, deal with issues of substantive jurisprudence such as the legal concepts and theories advanced by naturalists and positivists.

Part Three, Socio-Legal Theory, considers the various socio-legal theories which view law as a central social phenomenon and the principle of utility, as adjunctive to the substantive issues of legal theory. Part Four, Historico-Legal Theory, introduces historic-legal theory and the theories advanced by the leading exponents in the field also as adjunctive to the substantive issues of legal theory.

Part Five, Constitutional Jurisprudence, advances constitutional concepts based on naturalistic and positivistic legal theories and the argument that any concept of a constitution must first identify the source of its validity, and once this is established, the next step is to identify the legal philosophy at play in the written instrument representing the constitution.

Part Six, Applied Jurisprudence, demonstrates how certain of the legal theories may be applied when considering, inter alia, principles of law and practical concepts such as the concept of a will, and also attempts to dispel the notion that jurisprudence exists in a state of isolation from other areas of law.

The study of jurisprudence lends reasoning power, not only to such broad questions such the validity of law and the relationship between law and morals but also to such particular questions, like the distinction between principles and rules of law and the legal weight given to each, and it is precisely because of this generality of scope and application that jurisprudence may be placed primus inter pares among the core law subjects.