Elders, J.L.M. --- "Rudolf von Jhering (1818–92) and the Economics of Justice" [2005] ELECD 167; in Backhaus, G. Jürgen (ed), "The Elgar Companion to Law and Economics, Second Edition" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2005)

Book Title: The Elgar Companion to Law and Economics, Second Edition

Editor(s): Backhaus, G. Jürgen

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845420321

Section: Chapter 43

Section Title: Rudolf von Jhering (1818–92) and the Economics of Justice

Author(s): Elders, J.L.M.

Number of pages: 8

Extract:

43 Rudolf von Jhering (1818­92) and the
economics of justice
J.L.M. Elders


Rudolf von Jhering was a German legal scholar who departed from the domi-
nant legal science of his time. His first writings were still influenced by the
conceptualist jurisprudence in his country, the so-called `Begriffsjurisprudenz'.
In his main work, Der Zweck im Recht, however, published in two volumes
between 1877 and 1883 and translated into English under the title Law as a
Means to an End, von Jhering developed a social utilitarian principle, maintain-
ing that purpose in law is as important as cause in the physical world. While,
according to the nineteenth-century historic school of jurisprudence, law has to
be regarded as a mainly irrational code of conduct, law was found, not made,
and legislation was less important than custom, von Jhering stressed the fact
that man, in order to survive, needs assimilation.
In his famous study about the spirit of Roman law (Geist des römischen
Rechtes) von Jhering defined Roman law as the system of disciplined ego(t)ism,
a concept that was to be developed further in his last work, as we shall see.
The main thesis in his last study is that purpose has to be regarded as the
source of all law. Therefore, the legal system has to deal with social reality. In
this connection we can also mention the proposition of H.S.A. Hart in his The
Concept of Law (Hart, 1961), where he says: ` ...