Classical and early modern

Legal Formalism and Conceptualism

Law is a logical system of rules and concepts from which a judge can reason to the answer.

19th century · Germany and the United States. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.

Read this first. This is a first map of a large subject. Each school is a family of views, and its thinkers often disagree with one another, so every summary simplifies. We describe each school in terms its own followers would accept and give the strongest criticism beside it. Read the original works before you cite anyone, and check your own course's reading list. This is general information, not legal advice.

What is law?

A self-contained system of principles. Cases are decided by applying general concepts to facts, by reasoning that follows from them, with little need to bring in policy or politics.

Law and morality

Kept out of the judge's reasoning. Policy choices belong to the legislature.

Where does its authority come from?

The internal logic and coherence of the legal system, ideally as set out by scholars.

How should judges decide?

Deductive reasoning from rules and doctrine. Predictability and neutrality are the aims.

The question it asks

Can a judge decide by logic alone?

Main criticism

Realists said the logic hides policy choices and judges' preferences. Jhering himself turned against the 'heaven of legal concepts' in his later work.

Legacy today

The case method in American law schools, the style of reasoning in civil codes, and every 'the rule is the rule' approach.

Key thinkers

Christopher Columbus Langdell, Georg Friedrich Puchta, Bernhard Windscheid, Rudolf von Jhering (early work).

Gaius (active c. 130–180 AD)
Papinian (c. 142–212 AD)
Justinian I (482–565 AD)
Irnerius (active c. 1100)
Rudolf von Jhering (1818–1892)

Key works

Langdell, A Selection of Cases on the Law of Contracts (1871)
Windscheid, Textbook of Pandect Law

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Read further

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: philosophy of law (an overview). For the exact arguments, go to the original works above.

TheLawToKnow Tools’s guide to schools of legal thought is an educational overview. It is not legal advice. Report a mistake.