Understanding Law: The Different Schools of Thought

Even though there may be times when we are definitely not aware of it, at a nearly constant pace, the law and the legal environment in which we live in playing a major role in the way that we live our lives and the way that we experience what is around us. However, while it would be very difficult to argue that the law is not an important part of every day life, it would be slightly easier to make the point that finding out proper information about the law and legal issues (besides from popular television shows) can sometimes be a very difficult thing indeed. Despite the difficulty, though, it is very important to learn about the law and the many legal principles that guide our court systems and our lives today. With that in mind, one of the most important starting points is definitely understanding the many different legal schools of thought that have shaped our current system today.

Depending on our own unique philosophies of law, the way that we determine and view different principles and different cases in real life can be incredibly different. This is also an important concept to keep in mind when we wonder how a judge or jury could make a decision. Often times, they may simply be operating under a different school of law than we are familiar with.

One of the first, and oldest schools of law and legal thought is known as the "Natural Law School". Although Natural Law was first credited to Aristotle, there are still many applications of the theory in today's world. According the natural law philosophy, there is a separation between the laws of a nation and the laws that apply to human beings and rational people as a whole. These laws would be inherent in human nature, and would thus come before the laws of a nation or other entity. For the sake of simplicity, we can think of natural law being somewhat represented by our Bill of Rights, they are laws which are not specific to a single nation or city, but rather applied universally to people across the world.

Another school of law, known as the Positivist school, can be thought of as being the opposite of the natural law school. This school of thought renders out thoughts such as good or bad laws, and instead places the law itself as the reason why we enjoy rights in the first place. Thus, one who follows the positivist school of law would hold the belief that no matter what, the laws of a nation or country, are the first and most powerful binding forces that a person operates under.

Coming from a semi-recent tradition, the historical school of law represents another step on the path towards coming to understand why we make the decisions we do and what influences our daily behavior. Historical law school followers would stick to the belief that we should base our legal decisions today on the examples of the past. Those who follow this school of thought do not like to make precedents or rule cases based on moral arguments. Rather, examples can be found in the laws and doctrines of the past. The prevailing thought here would be that the laws and rulings of the past have led to success, so there is no reason not to follow them today.

One of the most recent additions to the many schools of law is known as legal realism. First conceived and followed around the late 1920's. Legal realism is a stance against the historical school of law, and many of it's principles and views can be considered to be polar opposites. This school of law holds the idea that because life is constantly changing, and are the circumstances and requirements of life, certain laws and doctrines must have to be altered or modernized in order to remain current. Thus, this school of law would hold that the law is not the same for everyone, and different circumstances and different people deserved to have their actions judged differently.

Regardless of which school of law we may personally find ourselves fitting into, it is nonetheless important that we come to recognize and learn from the legal thoughts and actions of the past. Doing this will help us gain a clearer understanding of where we are today, and the impact that our decisions, both when it comes to the law and legal matters, as well as the simple manner in which we live our lives will come to have on the generations of tomorrow.