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Jurisprudence and Legal Theory

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This hub offers a comprehensive set of questions on jurisudence, legal theories, and the sociology of law. Topics include social contract theory, legal positivism, and judicial review, which are vital for law entrance examinations. Review these explanations to strengthen your foundational legal reasoning skills.

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Jurisprudence and Legal Theory Questions

Multiple choice

The blanks in the following passage indicate deletions from the text. Select the completion that is most appropriate to the context. Contemporary legal positivism depends upon the methodological assumption that a theory of law may be conceptual without, at the same time, being normative. In point of fact this assumption is a composite principle. It makes the fairly obvious claim that a conceptual theory, which strives to be descriptive rather than normative, says what the law is not what it ought to be. A conceptual theory must be supplemented by a normative theory, and the arguments in favor of a particular content for law are couched in terms of the results which are expected to flow from proposed legal acts. It is never a part of an argument for what the law ought to be, in the positivist's view, that to be a law it must have a certain content. While the normative argument refers ultimately to agreed-upon ends, it does not assert that these ends_(6)_ Rather, that they are accepted and acted upon is merely a contingent matter. The second part of the methodological premise is more subtle: A conceptual theory such as legal positivism does not claim that the particular description it offers is uniquely correct. Proponents of legal positivism regard their study of law as 'analogous to the physicists' study of the universe: They have one theory of legal institutions _(7)_.

  1. must be pursued as a matter of critical necessity

  2. are not the best ends for any modern legal system

  3. would not be adopted by courts in a democratic society

  4. could be undermined by dissident elements in the community

  5. are shared by everyone
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

(1) The ends of law, according to legal positivism, are to be agreed upon - accepted as a contingent matter. They are values, which the community adopts; they are not handed down by God, nor are they dictated by logic.

Multiple choice

The blanks in the following passage indicate deletions from the text. Select the completion that is most appropriate to the context. Contemporary legal positivism depends upon the methodological assumption that a theory of law may be conceptual without, at the same time, being normative. In point of fact this assumption is a composite principle. It makes the fairly obvious claim that a conceptual theory, which strives to be descriptive rather than normative, says what the law is not what it ought to be. A conceptual theory must be supplemented by a normative theory, and the arguments in favor of a particular content for law are couched in terms of the results which are expected to flow from proposed legal acts. It is never a part of an argument for what the law ought to be, in the positivist's view, that to be a law it must have a certain content. While the normative argument refers ultimately to agreed-upon ends, it does not assert that these ends_(6)_ Rather, that they are accepted and acted upon is merely a contingent matter. The second part of the methodological premise is more subtle: A conceptual theory such as legal positivism does not claim that the particular description it offers is uniquely correct. Proponents of legal positivism regard their study of law as 'analogous to the physicists' study of the universe: They have one theory of legal institutions _(7)_.

  1. and that is the only possible correct theory of law

  2. and someday, with sufficient work, that theory will be able to generate societal goals for us to pursue

  3. but that theory may, someday, be displaced by a better one

  4. although no theory of the physical universe is as reliable as the positivistic theory of law

  5. which is, however, strongly supported by the findings of modem science
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

(3) The analogy to physical theory is highly suggestive. The physicist advances a theory which represents an improvement on existing theories, but he is aware that tomorrow another theory may be proposed which is more correct than his. So the legal positivist advances a descriptive theory, that is, a description of existing legal institutions, but new information or advances in theory may displace that theory.

Multiple choice

“Jurisprudence is the formal science of those relations of mankind which are generally recognised as having legal consequences and as such is the formal science of positive law.” Jurisprudence has been defined above by

  1. Salmond

  2. Austin

  3. Julius Stone

  4. Holland
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Holland defined Jurisprudence as the formal science of those relations of mankind which are generally recognised as having legal consequences and as such as the formal science of positive law. 

Multiple choice

Kelsen’s theory of law is called pure theory of law because Kelsen

  1. purely discussed jurisprudence only

  2. defined law in accordance with morality and purity

  3. separated law from religion, ethics, sociology and history

  4. discussed law purely in terms of justice
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Kelsen’s theory of law is called pure theory of law because Kelsen defined law in accordance with morality and purity. Kelsen's strict separation of law and morals was an integral part of his presentation of the pure theory of law.

Multiple choice

“Law as such is found and not made. It is to be found in popular faith, common convictions, customs, traits, habits and traditions which in course of time grow into legal rules.”

This concept of law was propounded by

  1. Savigny

  2. Thibaut

  3. Henry Maine

  4. Salmond
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

According to Savigny, law is not a consciously created phenomenon but is the gradual distillation of the volksgeist (the spirit of the people). Law is found, not made.

Multiple choice

‘Positive Law’ is called positive because it is

  1. followed by everybody

  2. made by a person in authority

  3. made as a result of divine providence

  4. made as a result of collective effort
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Positive law may be characterized as "law actually and specifically enacted or adopted by proper authority for the government of an organized jural society."

Multiple choice

Consider the following statements regarding Natural Law and choose the correct option:

  1. The central notion of natural law is the existence of objective moral principle.
  2. These principles are discovered by reference to legal sources as the Constitution, Codes and so on.
  3. These principles are discovered as the essential nature of man.

  1. 1, 2 and 3 are correct.

  2. 1 and 2 are correct.

  3. 2 and 3 are correct.

  4. 1 and 3 are correct.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Statement 1. The central notion of natural law is the existence of objective moral principle as the point of moral principles is to give ethical structure to the pursuit of these basic goods.  Statement 3. These principles are discovered as the essential nature of man. Moral principles enable us to select among competing goods and to define what a human being can permissibly do in pursuit of basic goods.

Multiple choice

According to Jurists of Analytical School,

  1. custom becomes law after its recognition by the sovereign

  2. custom never becomes law

  3. custom is a law from the very inception of it

  4. customs are only positive morality even after recognition
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

According to Jurists of Analytical School, custom becomes law after its recognition by the sovereign.

Multiple choice

Which of the following could be considered as the advantages of legislation over precedent?

  1. Abrogative power
  2. Foreknowledge
  3. Prospective application
  4. Systematic arrangement

Select the correct answer, using the codes given below:

  1. 1, 2, 3 and 4

  2. 2 and 3

  3. 1, 2 and 4

  4. 1, 2 and 3
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The chief advantages of legisla­tion over precedent are the following:

  1. Legislation is both constitutive and ab­rogative whereas precedent merely possesses constitutive efficacy.
  2. Justice demands that laws should be known before they are applied and enforced by the law courts.
  3. Legislation can make rules in anticipation for cases that have not as yet arisen, whereas precedent must wait for the occurrence of some dispute before the court can create any definite rule of law.
  4. Legislation is superior in form; brief, clear, easily accessible and understandable.
Multiple choice

What is meant by doctrine of eclipse?

  1. Law which violates the fundamental rights is void-ab-initio.

  2. Law which violates the fundamental rights is sometimes valid.

  3. Law which violates the fundamental rights is unenforceable.

  4. None of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Right-It is a correct statement. The law which violates the fundamental rights is unenforceable but doctrine of eclipse also says that such law can enforce if the eclipse is removed from this.

Multiple choice

Equalitarians find equality before law as inadequate to uphold the value of equality. Which of the following is assigned as the reason by them?

  1. It does not take into account differences among persons.

  2. It does not take into account the unequal resources and assets that people possess.

  3. It does not take into account that certain talents and skills are undeservedly possessed.

  4. It does not take into account the fact that means of production are concentrated in a few hands which imparts to its owners great influence.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Egalitarians argue that formal equality before the law is insufficient because it ignores the substantive inequalities in resources, wealth, and social standing that individuals bring to the legal system. Without addressing these starting-point differences, the law often reinforces existing social hierarchies.

Multiple choice

Which one of the following statements is not correct?

  1. A Jeremy Bentham preserved the individualist notion of moral autonomy, with priority to individual interests.

  2. Bentham's greatest contribution was in the field of jurisprudence and government.

  3. Bentham considered the powers of the sovereign as indivisible, unlimited, inalienable and permanent.

  4. Bentham argued that a legislator should not take into cognizance factors like people's customs, prejudices, religion and traditions while codifying the law.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Multiple choice

Legal equality implies that

  1. the state cannot enact different laws for different groups of people

  2. everybody is equal before the law

  3. there should be equality among equals and inequality among the unequals

  4. there should be no special laws for any category of people
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Legal equality, or equality before the law, means that the law applies to everyone equally regardless of their status, wealth, or position. It ensures that no one is above the law.