A Student Manual on Jurisprudence

The study of jurisprudence seeks to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, legal reasoning, legal systems, and legal institutions. Early jurisprudential studies focused on the first principles of the natural law, civil law, and the law of nations. Today, general jurisprudence addresses fundamental questions structuring our legal system, including: How do we know what the law is? What are the proper sources and purposes of law? What is the relationship between law and justice? What is the source of one’s duty to obey the law? A familiarity with jurisprudence provides students with an ability to analyse, explain, classify, and criticize schools of thought in law.