Kinds of Jurisprudence

1. The Core Branches (By Time & Purpose)

• Analytical Jurisprudence ("Law as it is"): Studies existing, man-made law (Positive Law). It aims to answer: "What is law?"(Analytical Jurisprudence is a sociological method to analyze legal systems).
• Historical Jurisprudence ("Law as it was"): Studies the history and evolution of legal systems.
• Ethical or Censorial Jurisprudence ("Law as it ought to be"): Evaluates law against moral standards to determine what it should be.

2. Key Scholar Divisions

• John Austin (General vs. Particular):
• Sir John Salmond (Civil Jurisprudence): Divided into three branches:
  1. 1. Systematic (Analytical)
  2. 2. Historical
  3. 3. Critical (Ethical)

3. Schools of Thought

• Positivists: Believe law and morality are separate. They study law as it is (Positive Law).
• Naturalists / Moralists: Believe law is inherently tied to morality. They study law as it ought to be (known as Censorial Jurisprudence).