CLAT PG Jurisprudence Syllabus

Jurisprudence syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Jurisprudence in CLAT PG, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Schools of Jurisprudence

   5 topics

   • Analytical School
     • Key Theorists and Principles
   • Historical School
     • Key Theorists and Principles
   • Sociological School
     • Key Theorists and Principles
   • Natural Law School
     • Key Theorists and Principles
   • Realist School
     • Key Theorists and Principles
2. 2

   Concepts of Law

   5 topics

   • Rights and Duties
     • Classification of Rights
     • Legal Duties
   • Legal Personality
     • Natural and Legal Persons
   • Possession and Ownership
     • Concepts and Differences
   • Liability
     • Types and Principles
   • Law and Morality
     • Relationship and Distinction

Jurisprudence flashcards for CLAT PG

20 of 50 cards from the Jurisprudence deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. Who is regarded as the founder of the Analytical School of jurisprudence, and what is the school also called?

   John Austin is the founder. The Analytical School is also called the Positivist or Imperative School (and 'Austinian School').

2. State Austin's definition of law in the Analytical School.

   Law is the 'command of the sovereign backed by a sanction.' Its three elements are command, duty, and sanction.

3. According to Austin, what are the essential attributes of sovereignty?

   The sovereign is a determinate human superior who receives habitual obedience from the bulk of society but does not habitually obey any other; the sovereign power is indivisible, illimitable, and continuous.

4. How did H.L.A. Hart improve upon Austin's analytical positivism?

   Hart rejected the command theory and described law as a union of primary rules (duty-imposing) and secondary rules (rules of recognition, change, and adjudication), with the 'rule of recognition' as the ultimate criterion of validity.

5. What is Hans Kelsen's contribution to the Analytical School through the Pure Theory of Law?

   Kelsen's Pure Theory views law as a hierarchy (pyramid) of norms, each deriving validity from a higher norm, all tracing back to the Grundnorm (basic/fundamental norm); law is purified of ethics, politics, and sociology.

6. Who founded the Historical School of jurisprudence and what is his central concept?

   Friedrich Karl von Savigny founded it. His central concept is the Volksgeist ('spirit/common consciousness of the people'), holding that law grows from the people's national character.

7. According to Savigny, what is the relationship between law and the people?

   Law is not made but found; it develops organically like language and customs as an expression of the Volksgeist, and grows with the strength of the people, dying out as the nation loses its individuality.

8. What is Sir Henry Maine's famous summary of the development of progressive societies?

   'The movement of progressive societies has hitherto been a movement from Status to Contract' — from rights/duties fixed by status to those based on free agreement.

9. How does the Historical School differ from the Analytical School on the source of law?

   The Analytical School treats law as the deliberate command of a sovereign (state-made), while the Historical School treats law as a spontaneous product of the people's custom and consciousness, with legislation playing a secondary role.

10. What did Georg Friedrich Puchta add to the Historical School?

    Puchta, Savigny's disciple, traced law's development from the conflict between the general will and individual will, holding that neither the people nor the state alone is the source of law — both together produce it.

11. Who is regarded as the father of the Sociological School, and what is his key concept?

    Roscoe Pound. His key concept is 'social engineering' — using law as a tool to balance competing interests and minimize friction and waste in society.

12. Explain Roscoe Pound's theory of 'jural postulates' and classification of interests.

    Pound classified interests into individual, public, and social interests, and said law should secure them according to certain 'jural postulates' (basic assumptions of civilized society) to achieve social engineering.

13. What is Rudolf von Jhering's contribution to sociological jurisprudence?

    Jhering (the 'father of modern sociological jurisprudence' / social utilitarianism) saw law as a means to a social end, born of social struggle; law balances individual and social purposes ('law is a coercive instrument serving social purposes').

14. What did Eugen Ehrlich mean by 'living law'?

    Ehrlich held that the centre of gravity of legal development lies not in legislation or judicial decisions but in society itself — the 'living law' is the inner ordering of human associations, the actual rules people follow in daily life.

15. What is Leon Duguit's concept of 'social solidarity'?

    Duguit held that the basis of law is social solidarity (interdependence of people through division of labour); any rule promoting social solidarity is law, and even the state is bound by it — he rejected the concept of sovereignty and individual private rights.

16. What is the core idea of the Natural Law School?

    That there exists a higher, universal, eternal law derived from reason, nature, or God, superior to human-made (positive) law; unjust positive law that conflicts with it lacks true validity ('lex iniusta non est lex').

17. How did the ancient Greeks and Romans contribute to Natural Law?

    Greek Stoics linked natural law to reason and universal nature; the Romans developed 'jus naturale' (natural law) alongside jus civile and jus gentium, applying universal principles of reason to all peoples.

18. What is Thomas Aquinas's fourfold classification of law?

    (1) Eternal law (God's divine reason governing the universe), (2) Divine law (revealed through scripture), (3) Natural law (human participation in eternal law through reason), and (4) Human/positive law (derived from natural law).

19. How did social contract theorists Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau differ in their natural law views?

    Hobbes: men surrender all rights to an absolute sovereign for security. Locke: men retain natural rights (life, liberty, property); government is limited and may be resisted. Rousseau: sovereignty rests in the 'general will' of the people.

20. What was the 20th-century revival of Natural Law associated with Lon Fuller?

    Lon Fuller proposed the 'inner morality of law' — eight principles of legality (generality, promulgation, non-retroactivity, clarity, non-contradiction, possibility, constancy, congruence) that law must satisfy to be valid; a procedural natural law.

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