Law, by definition, is a system of social control. Its purpose is to regulate and control behavior and to serve the purposes of society. Law is also a coercive institution. Roscoe Pound, who studied law, defined it as a tool of social engineering. According to Pound, law is the most important institution in human society.
Conceptual jurisprudence
Conceptual jurisprudence in the law is a philosophical analysis of the nature of law. It tries to understand why law is so important and how its properties come to be so important. This type of analysis requires the use of norms to help distinguish important features of law.
The critics of naturalized jurisprudence believe that the methodology of conceptual analysis is not consistent with scientific methodology. In this view, conceptual analysis will have a contingent character, and empirical observation will not be required to observe the features of every possible world. This type of view also rejects the notion that true conceptual claims are a priori and that they are inferred.
Conceptual jurisprudence in the law relies on value judgments and norms other than arguments and good reasoning. It is the process of analyzing and comparing different aspects of law to see which aspects are most relevant for a particular situation.
Natural law theory of law
A natural law theory of law is a system that holds that law is based on social facts and judicially established precedents. The theory is based on Aristotle’s conception of the natural world. A philosopher might define the norm as the “content” of a person’s act of will.
The theory of natural law has been criticized for many reasons. Some claim that the natural world is impersonal and uninformative, and others say that a human being’s reason is sufficient to determine what is right or wrong. For instance, the Southern Nigerian Criminal Code does not criminalise adultery while the Northern Nigerian Penal Code does.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that natural law is an immanent force. This belief is based on the influence of Thomas Aquinas, who lived from 1225 to 1274 A.D. The School of Salamanca also influenced Thomas Aquinas’s view of nature.
Legal pragmatism
Legal pragmatism is an alternative viewpoint on the legal domain. The theory argues that traditional legal thinking is based on a lack of awareness of conflicting perspectives. Legal training, on the other hand, emphasizes logical reasoning and the ability to simplify problems. But this approach does not allow for the practical judgments that are necessary to resolve legal disputes.
Legal pragmatism is a branch of legal philosophy that is opposed to legal formalism. It rejects the idea that legal texts have deterministic meanings. Instead, it emphasizes that nothing is definitive and open-ended. It also defers to precedent and analogies previously endorsed.
A pragmatist would look beyond the current dispute to the larger implications in contract disputes in the future. He would look at how a certain decision may affect third parties and everyday life.