10 Jan

Jurisprudence 1.1. General Introduction

Topic 1: THE NATURE AND MEANING OF JURISPRUDENCE “Jurisprudence” in Latin: “Jurisprudentia” means knowledge of law. “Juris” which means law and “prudence” which means wisdom. Juris+prudence= Knowledge/wisdom of the law. Jurisprudence is concerned with law at a high level of abstraction. It tries to understand and appraise the law. Oliver Wendell Holmes: “jurisprudence… is simply […]

04 Jan

JURISPRUDENCE 1.2 CONCEPTIONS OF LAW

1.3 CONCEPTIONS OF LAW AND SCHOOLS OF JURISPRUDENCE. Jurisprudents and their ideas have been classified into groups called “schools”. The members of a school hold certain ideas and propositions in common. The schools are numerous but can be summarised into the following conceptions. We have: The Imperative/Positive Conception: Looks at law as a command/imperative issued […]

04 Jan

JURISPRUDENCE 1.4 LAW AND MORALS

Topic 2.2 LAW AND MORALS. Hacker and Raz in Law, Morality And Society, note that there is no simple definition of morality. Oxford Dictionary defines it as the standard of right behaviour. Virtuousness. Morality refers to the standard of conduct that are generally accepted. Karl Marx is of the opinion that morality depends on the […]

04 Jan

JURISPRUDENCE 1.3 LAW AND RELIGION

Topic 2.1 LAW AND RELIGION. Religion is the belief and worship of a deity… the relationship of man and his God. It has been regarded as the highest distillation of morality. The argument has been; give to Ceaser what belongs to Ceaser and to God what belongs to God. It has been argued that religion […]

04 Jan

JURISPRUDENCE 1.5 LAW AND JUSTICE

Topic 3: LAW AND JUSTICE. Dias described justice as “vague”. Professor Akin Oyebode notes that justice is relativist and varies from time to time and person to person. Jonathan Swift noted that “wonders shall never cease… that is why justice varies from person to person”. Justice, like beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. […]

03 Jan

JURISPRUDENCE 1.6 LAW AND REVOLUTION

Topic 4: LAW, REVOLUTION AND LEGITIMATION. Topic 4.1 LAW AND REVOLUTION Nothing is constant except change. What happens when a legal order is replaced by another one? Hans Kelsen uses his concept of norm to explain the legal order. He describes law as a norm. He describes a norm as stipulations regulating conduct and backed […]

03 Jan

JURISPRUDENCE 1.7 JUDICIAL PROCESS

Topic 5: THE JUDICIAL PROCESS. This is the process by which rights and duties are determined. Baron de Montesque in Spirit of the Law looks at separation of power. A.V. Dicey advocates for an impartial and independent Judiciary. Section 4, 5 and 6 of the 1999 Constitution separates power among the Legislature (lawmaker), Executive (law […]

03 Jan

JURISPRUDENCE I.8 FUNDAMENTAL LEGAL CONCEPTS

FUNDAMENTAL LEGAL CONCEPTS. Professor Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld (1879-1918) an analytical jurist gifted jurisprudence the concept of Jural Relations (jural opposites and jural correlatives). He wanted to clarify certain notions which he called “lowest common denominators”. They include:     (1) (2) (3) (4) JURAL OPPOSITES Right No-right Privilege Duty Power Disability Immunity Liability     […]