Sociological jurisprudence according to Pound: 3

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Sociological jurisprudence according to Pound:

Sociological jurisprudence, according to Pound, should ensure that the making, interpretation and application of laws take account of social facts. Towards achieving this end there should be;

a. A factual study of the social effects of legal administration,

b. Social investigations as preliminaries to legislation,

c. A constant study of the means for making laws more effective, which involves,

d. The study, both psychological and philosophical, of the judicial method,

e. A sociological study of legal history,

f. Allowance for the possibility of a just and reasonable solution of individual cases,

g. A ministry of justice in English-speaking countries, and

h. The achievement of the purposes of the various laws.

So in order to achieve the purposes of the legal order, in the words of Pound, there has to be;

a. A recognition of certain interests, individual, public and social,

b. A definition of the limits within which such interests will be legally recognised and given effect to, and

c. The securing of those interests within the limits as defined.

When determining the scope and subject-matter of the system, the following five things require to be done;

i. Preparation of an inventory of interests, classifying them;

ii. Selection of the interests which should be legally recognised;

iii. Demarcation of the limits of securing the interests so selected;

iv. Consideration of the means whereby laws might secure the interests when these have been acknowledged and delimited; and

v. Evolution of the principles of valuation of the interests.