University Institute of Legal Studies: Jurisprudence-American Realism 21LCT114

University Institute of Legal Studies
JURISPRUDENCE- AMERICAN REALISM

21LCT114
Faculty Name : Himanshi Gupta
Classification of Law DISCOVER . LEARN . EMPOWER

COURSE OBJECTIVES
The Course aims to:
To provide a basic understanding of the debates around the nature of

1 law.
To make an understanding about the structure of the legal institutions

2 and the hierarchy of courts in India.
To make the students aware about the various sources of law and be
able to synthesise such sources and use them to formulate arguments in
3 their research. 2
COURSE OUTCOMES
On completion, the students are expected to:
CO Title Level
Number
CO1 Students will be able to distinguish between Apply
the major kinds of law, legal systems and
institutions.
CO2 Students will be able to identify legal issues

and principles underlying any given factual Analyse
situation, and to undertake and present
research on such issues.
CO3 Students will be able to appreciate the legal Apply

research sources and tools and basic
techniques of legal and logical reasoning.
pinterest.com 3
OBJECTIVE
• To understand what is law (including meaning and
definition).
• To learn its origin and conceptual development.
• To analysis various types / Kinds of Law.
• To understand the underlying principles of Law .
INTRODUCTION
• Legal Realism is a naturalistic approach to law. It is believed
by the legal realists that legal science should only
investigate law with the value-free methods of natural
sciences, rather than through philosophical inquiries into
the nature and meaning of the law that are separate and
distinct from the law and it is actually practiced .
• Legal realism asserts that the law cannot be separated from
its application, nor can it be understood outside of its
application.
• Legal realism is associated with American jurisprudence
during the 1920s and 1930s , particularly amongst federal
judges and lawyers with the Roosevelt administration .
The Realist movement is a part
of the sociological approach and
it is sometimes called the “ left
wing of the functional school”. It
differs from sociological school
as it is concerned with the ends
of law. The movement is known
as “realist” as it studies law in its
real form and rejects the
traditional definition of law.
FEATURES
• No Realist school, only movement in thought and work
about law.
• It means a conception of law in flux and as a means to
social ends.
• It implies a society which changes faster than law.
• Distrusts traditional legal rules and concepts so far as they
purport what either courts or people are actually doing.
• Accepts the definition of rules as a “generalized prediction
of what the courts will do”
• Insists on the evolution of any parts of law in terms of its
effect.
JOHN CHIPMAN GRAY
• Exponent of the analytical tendency in
jurisprudence.
• “The law is what the Court decides”.  Placed the
judge in the centre instead of the statutory
legislation – shook the position of analytical
jurisprudence.
• Prepared the ground for a more skeptical approach
of the law, which further laid the ground for Oliver
Wendell Holmes’ empirical and skeptical definition
of law.
“Take the fundamental question, what constitutes the law…You
will find some text-writers telling you…that it is a system of
reason, that it is a deduction from principles of ethics or
admitted actions, or what not, which may or may not coincide
with the decision. But if we take the view of our friend, the bad
man, we shall find that he does not care two straws for the
action or deduction, but that does want to know what
Massachusetts or English courts are likely to do in fact. I am
much of his mind. The prophecies of what the courts will do in
fact and nothing more pretentious are what I mean by the law”
- Oliver Wendell Holmes’ definition of law
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
• Distinguished judge and thinker.
• Described as the intellectual inspiration and spiritual father of
the American Realism Movement.
• He was skeptical of the ability of general rules to provide the
solution to particular cases.
• Gave credence to the role of extra-legal factors in judicial
decision making.
• Defined law in terms of its consequences and what seemed to
demolish the analytical certainty and any connection between
law and ethical ideals.
• Sowed the seeds for Realism in a paper called, “The path of law”.
Assessment Pattern
Students are assessed on the
basis of the following
parameters:
• Assignments
• Surprise Test
• Quiz
• Discussion
paulhraymer.com 11
References
e. Textbooks / Reference Books
 T1 Dr. S.R. Myneni, Legal Research Methodology (Allahabad Law Agency, 2017)
 T2 Prof. Tushar Kanti, Textbook on Legal Methods, Legal Systems &
Research (Universal Law Publishing - An imprint of LexisNexis, 2015)
 T3 Dr. G.P. Tripathi, Legal Methods (Central Law Publications. 2014)
 R1 Goode and Hall, Methods in Legal Research (Singapore: Mc Graw Hill Book
Co., 1985)
 R2 C.R. Kothari, Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques (New Delhi:
Newage International Publishers 2018)
 R3 Harvard Law Review Association, The Bluebook: Uniform System of Citation
(Harvard Law Review, Harvard)
 https://lawtimesjournal.in/what-are-the-different-classifications-of-law/#:~:tex
t=Law%20may%20be%20classified%20in,Substantive%20Law%20and%20Proce
dural%20Law&text=Common%20Law%20and%20equity
12
THANK YOU
For queries
Email: himanshi.e10437@cumail.in

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University Institute of Legal Studies

JURISPRUDENCE- AMERICAN REALISM

Classification of Law DISCOVER . LEARN . EMPOWER

To provide a basic understanding of the debates around the nature of

To make an understanding about the structure of the legal institutions

CO2 Students will be able to identify legal issues

CO3 Students will be able to appreciate the legal Apply

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