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Jurisprudence

Legal History

Selected Works

Robert Rodes

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Full-Text Articles in Law

On The Historical School Of Jurisprudence, Robert E. Rodes Nov 2013

On The Historical School Of Jurisprudence, Robert E. Rodes

Robert Rodes

Legal theory has tended to treat the Historical School as a poor relation, but it has important contributions to make. Developed in opposition to the one-size-fits-all form of natural law that eventuated in the Code Napoleon, it attributes law to a Volksgeist, the spirit of a people, as developed in the peculiar historical experience of that people. The original German proponents of the school had trouble explaining the reception of Roman law in Germany, but despite the importation of technical elements from without, a people's laws are in fact part of their culture and of their spiritual heritage as these …


Non-Representational Jurisprudence: A Centennial Reading Of "The Path Of The Law", Robert E. Rodes Nov 2013

Non-Representational Jurisprudence: A Centennial Reading Of "The Path Of The Law", Robert E. Rodes

Robert Rodes

This paper analyzes particular passages in Holmes's famous lecture, and notes important inconsistencies and failings in his approach. After arguing strongly that moral considerations should not enter into legal judgments, he criticizes legal judgments in the light of moral considerations. After defining law as a prediction of what the courts will do, he seems to criticize courts for getting the law wrong in their decisions. His advice to learn the legal profession by studying law from the standpoint of a bad man leaves out of account the numerous potential clients who wish to be law abiding citizens and to seal …