LLB Examination Jurisprudence and Legal Theory Syllabus

Jurisprudence and Legal Theory syllabus — full chapter and topic list

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

1. 1

   Nature and Definition of Law

   3 topics

   • Meaning and Functions of Law
   • Schools of Jurisprudence
   • Law and Morality
2. 2

   Sources of Law

   4 topics

   • Custom as a Source of Law
   • Precedent and Stare Decisis
   • Legislation
   • Justice, Equity and Good Conscience
3. 3

   Legal Concepts

   5 topics

   • Legal Rights and Duties
   • Ownership and Possession
   • Persons and Legal Personality
   • Property
   • Liability
4. 4

   Administration of Justice

   3 topics

   • Civil and Criminal Justice
   • Theories of Punishment
   • Rule of Law
5. 5

   Sovereignty and the State

   3 topics

   • Austin's Theory of Sovereignty
   • Pluralist Theory
   • Kelsen's Pure Theory of Law

Jurisprudence and Legal Theory flashcards for LLB Examination

22 of 50 cards from the Jurisprudence and Legal Theory deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. Define jurisprudence in its broadest sense.

   Jurisprudence is the science, study, or theory of law that examines its nature, sources, purposes, and underlying principles, rather than the content of any particular legal rule.

2. According to Salmond, what is law?

   Salmond defined law as 'the body of principles recognised and applied by the State in the administration of justice.' Law is what the courts apply.

3. How did Austin define law?

   Austin defined law as the 'command of the sovereign backed by a sanction' — a command issued by a determinate political superior to political inferiors, enforced by the threat of penalty.

4. What are the principal functions of law in society?

   Maintaining order and peace, protecting rights and liberties, resolving disputes, administering justice, regulating conduct, securing social control, and facilitating social change.

5. Distinguish between 'imperative' and 'normative' theories of law.

   Imperative theory (Austin) sees law as commands backed by sanctions; normative theory sees law as a system of norms or 'ought' propositions guiding conduct, independent of force.

6. Name the major schools of jurisprudence.

   Natural Law (Philosophical), Analytical (Positivist), Historical, Sociological, and Realist schools.

7. What is the central idea of the Natural Law school?

   That law derives its validity from morality, reason, or divine order; an unjust law conflicting with higher moral principles is not true law (lex iniusta non est lex).

8. What does the Analytical (Positivist) school focus on?

   The law as it actually is (positum), separating law from morality, analysing legal concepts and the formal sources/structure of law. Associated with Bentham, Austin, Kelsen and Hart.

9. What is the core thesis of the Historical school of jurisprudence?

   Law is found, not made; it grows organically from the customs, traditions, and 'spirit of the people' (Volksgeist). Chief exponent: Savigny.

10. What is the focus of the Sociological school of jurisprudence?

    Law as a social institution serving social ends; it studies law's actual working in society and its effects. Exponents: Ihering, Roscoe Pound, Ehrlich, Duguit.

11. What is Roscoe Pound's theory of 'social engineering'?

    The idea that law balances and reconciles competing individual and social interests with minimum friction and waste, like an engineer ordering society.

12. What is the central claim of the Realist school?

    Law is what courts and officials actually do in practice; emphasis is on judicial behaviour and decisions rather than abstract rules. Exponents: Holmes, Llewellyn, Gray, Frank.

13. What is Kelsen's 'Pure Theory of Law'?

    A theory stripping law of morality, politics and sociology, presenting it as a hierarchy of norms whose validity derives from a higher norm, culminating in the Grundnorm (basic norm).

14. What is the Grundnorm in Kelsen's theory?

    The basic, presupposed norm at the apex of the legal hierarchy from which all other norms derive their validity; it is itself not derived from any higher norm.

15. What is H.L.A. Hart's central concept of a legal system?

    Law is a union of primary rules (imposing duties) and secondary rules (rules of recognition, change and adjudication), with the rule of recognition validating the system.

16. Distinguish between law and morality.

    Law is enforced by the State through sanctions and governs external conduct; morality rests on conscience/social opinion, governs internal as well as external conduct, and lacks formal enforcement.

17. What was the Hart-Devlin debate about?

    Whether morality should be legally enforced. Devlin argued society may enforce a shared morality to preserve itself; Hart argued the law should not enforce private morality lacking harm to others.

18. State the 'harm principle' of John Stuart Mill.

    The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over an individual against their will is to prevent harm to others; self-regarding acts are not the law's business.

19. Define custom as a source of law.

    Custom is a long-established uniform practice or usage, observed continuously by a community with the conviction that it is legally binding, which the law recognises as a source of legal rules.

20. What are the two main kinds of custom in jurisprudence?

    Legal custom (operates as binding law of its own force — general or local) and conventional custom (usage binding only because incorporated into a contract or agreement between parties).

21. State the essential requisites of a valid custom.

    Antiquity (immemorial existence), continuity, peaceable enjoyment, certainty, reasonableness, obligatory force, consistency, and conformity with statute law and public policy.

22. What is meant by 'immemorial' custom in English law?

    A custom in existence since 'time immemorial' — legally fixed as the year 1189 (accession of Richard I); the custom must be shown to have existed since that date.

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