What is Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence is ‘the Eyes of Law.’ In the human body, the eyes are one of its most essential parts. Most of the human activities and movements of a man’s body are possible only through them. Unless a man can see anything correctly, he can’t do any work properly. Jurisprudence is called the ‘the eye of law’ because jurisprudence functions for law like eyes do for the human body.
For example: It is a difficult task to interpret the law. Students and even lawyers sometimes fail to reach to the intention of the legislature while interpreting the law. This is where jurisprudence assists them and makes decoding the law easy.
Function of Jurisprudence
The core function of jurisprudence is to study the origin of law; From where a particular law has developed and traces back its origin as to how that law has contributed towards society. The matters related to birth, marriages, death, succession, etc., are equally controlled through laws. As a result, jurisprudence has a lot of application in civil life.
Nature of Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence, in its nature, is a different subject. It is neither a procedural subject nor a substantive subject. It is the mainstream of whole law, from where the different laws originate. It is not a codified law like the Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code, or the Constitution. Jurisprudence being an ever-growing and dynamic subject has no limitation on itself.
Is Jurisprudence Art or Science
Many authors and jurists came in the timeline, and everyone gave different opinions or views regarding the nature of jurisprudence. It is called both art and science. But to call it or prove it to be science is more appropriate. The reason for this is that, in science, we draw conclusions after doing a systematic and logical study by applying new methods and techniques. Similarly, jurisprudence is concerned with the fundamental principles of law, and thus calling it science is a bit more suitable.
Scope of Jurisprudence
According to Justice P.B Mukherjee, “Jurisprudence is both an intellectual and idealistic abstraction as well as a behavioural study of man in society. It includes political, social, economic, and cultural ideas. It covers the study of man concerning to state and society. â€
Every jurist or thinker does not construct his research study on the rules already made but tries to understand their utility after due consideration. This is the reason jurisprudence has no limited scope and is a developing subject.
Utility and Importance of Jurisprudence
Many times it is said that jurisprudence being an abstract and theoretical subject, has no use in the day-to-day world. It only contains theories to study and adopt with no practical implications. But it is not correct or appropriate to make such a statement. Its utilities are as under:
Jurisprudence in Daily Life
“Ignorance of the law is no excuse†is a saying well known throughout the world. Therefore, it is of prime importance to understand the correct basic principles of law which are contained only in jurisprudence. It is therefore mandatory that all the people in the country, whether they belong to the fraternity of law or not, should have the sound knowledge of the law. Every person must know the law of his land. And this is possible only with the help of jurisprudence!
