Analytical School Of Jurisprudence

Question 1

Core ideas of analytical School

Answer 1

Also known as: Positivist School
Main Focus: What the law is, not what it ought to be. Separates law from morality.
Key Features:

Law = command of sovereign

Emphasis on structure, system, legal reasoning

Relies on logic, language, and rule-based systems

Question 2

🇬🇧 Jeremy Bentham

Answer 2

1. 🇬🇧 Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832)

Known for: Father of Legal Positivism
Main Theory: Utilitarianism (in legal context) → Greatest happiness of the greatest number
Core Contributions (4–5 lines):

Rejected natural law as vague; law must be codified, verifiable, and based on utility.

Introduced Hedonic Calculus → method to measure pleasure and pain.

Proposed Pannomion: a complete codified legal system.

Emphasized that law = will of sovereign, backed by sanctions, and should serve public utility.
Mnemonic: Bent-happiness → bending law towards maximizing happiness.
Memory Hook: Imagine Bentham with a balance scale—on one side “pain”, on the other “pleasure”, measuring laws.

1. Intensity: How strong is the pleasure?

2.: How long will the pleasure last?

3. Certainty or uncertainty: How likely or unlikely is it that the pleasure will occur?
4. Propinquity or remoteness: How soon will the pleasure occur?
5. Fecundity: The probability that the action will be followed by sensations of the same kind.

6.

Purity: The probability that it will not be followed by sensations of the opposite kind.

7. Extent: How many people will be affected?

Question 3

. 🇬🇧 John Austin (1790–1859)

Answer 3

Known for: Command Theory of Law
Main Theory: Law as a command of the sovereign backed by sanctions
Core Contributions (4–5 lines):

Defined law as a command given by a sovereign to its subjects, enforced by sanction.

Distinguished between:

Positive Law (made by humans)

Divine Law (religious/moral)

Separated law from morality: law is valid if made by the sovereign, even if unjust.

Rejected customary and judge-made laws unless sovereign accepts them.
Mnemonic: Austin’s Authority → Law = Order + Threat.
Memory Hook: Picture a king issuing commands from a throne with a sword labeled “sanction”—his word is the law.

Question 4

Hans Kelsen (1881–1973

Answer 4

Known for: Pure Theory of Law
Main Theory: Normative Legal Order + Grundnorm (Basic Norm)
Core Contributions (5 lines):

Proposed “Pure Theory”: law must be studied without influence of politics, ethics, or sociology.

Law is a hierarchy of norms, with the Grundnorm (basic norm) at the top.

Each legal norm derives its validity from a higher one—purely formal, not moral.

Law = system of rules with a prescribed sanction, focused only on what law is.
Mnemonic: Kelsen’s Pyramid → Legal system like a triangle; all norms flow down from one basic norm.
Memory Hook: Picture a pyramid of laws with “Grundnorm” at the top glowing—if it vanishes, the whole structure collapses.

Question 5

H.L.A. Hart (1907–1992)

Answer 5

Known for: Modern Positivism – Critique & refinement of Austin
Main Theory: Rule of Recognition, Primary & Secondary Rules
Core Contributions (5–6 lines):

Distinguished between:

Primary rules: duties (e.g., don’t steal)

Secondary rules: rules about rules (e.g., how laws are made, recognized, changed)

Introduced Rule of Recognition: officials use it to determine what counts as valid law.

Said law ≠ coercion only; legal system needs internal acceptance, not just threats.

Rejected Austin’s theory as too simplistic and outdated.
Mnemonic: Hart = Heart of Rules → Understanding the rule system’s structure, not just force.
Memory Hook: Imagine a heart-shaped legal book with two chambers: one for primary rules, one for secondary.