Various schools of law

A. Positivistic school of law( Austin)

This school regards law as the command of the sovereign.”law is the aggregate of rule set by men as politically superior,or sovereign, to men as politically subject”.
Gist of the theory-
a) Law is the command of the sovereign i.e state
b) Which has to be obeyed or
c) If not obeyed,you will be visited with sanctions

This school is not concerned with the goodness or badness of law.It studies only the law as it is given to the people by the state.Therefore,it has got the name of positive school.It doesnot consider custom as a valid source of law.In the same way,international law and morality is not treated law by them.They emphasise that people obey law only because of the fear of sanction and nothing else.Three main elements of law are- Command+duty+sanction.And only State is the ultimate source of all law.

Criticisms- 1) Law is not merely a set of commands,it confers certain privileges also.
2)People do not obey law because of fear of sanction only,there are many other motives for obeying the law.
3) Custom is recognized as a historical source of law in many legal systems.
4) International law is law in every sense.Eg, UNO

B. Natural Law School-

Very old school of law.Expounded by Greek thinkers.Mainly metaphysical speculations on justice.It denotes belief in a system of right or justice common to all men prescribed by the supreme controlling force in the universe.Those rules and principles which are considered to have emanated from some supreme source as God or divine power.Law is in the nature and it is a product of human reason.This school is also called Divine law school,moral law,universal law and so on.
For them the ultimate source of law was not the state or any sovereign entity but law was created by the supreme force and expounded by human reason.The end of law was Justice for all.Hence, they mixed law with justice and morality.

C.Historical School of law-( Savigny)

Law is not made but found.Custom is law.It is the typical law and is enforced by the King who himself is bound by it.Law has nothing to do with political power.It is the product of national consciousness.In other words law comes from the people.Law rests on social pressure and is therefore a product of society.

D.The Realist School-

It observes the making and working of law in society.It studies law as it is.Primarily focuses on the decisions of judge in a case.Decisions given by a judge are influenced by “human factor” and this is the field of its study.Law is a means to social ends, but must be evaluated in terms of its effects.It studies what law is and what it ought to be.Its emphasis lie on the creative role of judge. This school had its birth in USA.


E. Kelson’s pure theory of law-

It was a refinement on Austin’s theory.His aim was to free law from metaphysical mist found in the doctrine of natural law.Therefore,this school is also called pure theory of law which will be uncontaminated by history,ethics,politics,sociology and other external factors.
In Short- law are normative in nature.They are ought norms.It deals with what ought to be done or ought not to be done.
Law is not a kin to natural science.It is not descriptive.Law does not say what actually takes place, it only prescribes certain rules according to which certain conduct ought to be punished.
Law consists of hierarchy of norms.On the top lie the grundnorm which gives validity to the other inferior norms.Such as the crown in parliament in England is the Grundnorm and Constitution of USA and India is the Grundnorm.All the other norms get its validity from the Grundnorm,whereas the validity of the Grundnorm lies in the political history of a country.Grundnorms validity is unquestionable.It is accepted so by the people.


F.Sociological school- ( Roscoe Pound)

Main focus of its study are individual and the State,individual and society,society and the state,law and individual and their interdependence and relationship.
According to this school,law is an instrument of social engineering.All the limbs of law are important.It primarily studies the working of law in society rather than its form or content.The end of law is to attain maximum happiness for the maximum number of people by resolving various conflicting interests in the society by the tool of Social Engineering.