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A report for the subject of Legal Philosophy section 1-D under Atty. Rochelle
Dakanay-Galano for the 2 Semester, Academic Year 2015-2016 as prepared by
the following students;
nd
Source of Law.............................................................................................. 9
3.2
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1 Introduction
Legal Realism is a school of thought working under the premise that legal
institutions do not exist independently from the framework of social, political, and
moral conflict (Fuller, 1934). According to Schlegel (2015), legal realists had four
overlapping interests creating a coherent framework in direct contrast to the
assertions of legal positivism; pursuing studies of legal institutions, criticizing legal
formalism; arguing a certain interpretation of juridical decision making; and refining
legal education. The fact that something is valid law does not give those to whom
the law applies an objective reason for obedience. (Green, 2005; pp. 1925-1926) It
is worth noting that the theory disregards the conventional definition of Law as the
legal realist framework defines the latter as what courts and partly irresponsible
administrative agencies will do or say within the limits set by statutes and public
opinion. (Radin, 1931; p. 824).
Although some scholars (Bodenheimer, 1940, and Stone, 1946) regard legal
realism as a subdiscipline of legal functionalism, Frank (1930) argues that the
concern of legal realism is with the operation of legal orders in terms of human
experiences in the legal ordering of society. Pragmatism is the central theme of
Legal Realism as the former is based on human experience, hence outweighing
transcendental principles as such principles detaches itself from experiential factors
which grounds Law to societal realities in which the Law thrives (Pascual, 2003).
Pascual credits Charles Peirce, William James, and John Dewey as proponents of
legal realism.
This report will discuss different types of legal realism; Juridical Legal
Realism by Justice Wendell Holmes, Social Legal Realism by John Dewey, Critical
Legal Realism by Roberto Mangabeira Unger, and Psychological Legal Realism by
Axel Hagerstorm; as patterned after the discussion of Pascual (2003).
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3.1
Source of Law
John Dewey broke with the natural law theory in the determination of the
ultimate source of law. Dewey disagreed with the natural law jurisprudence who
insist that unless a source of higher and more fixed than that of experience can be
found, there is no sure ground for any genuinely philosophic valuation of law as it
actually exists (Patterson, 1953; pp. 74). For Dewey, this idea is not supported by
practical experience.
Likewise, Dewey (1924; pp. 74) posited the view that the law is the product
of the on-going human activities and interactivities. Thus, the phenomenon of
human activities and interactivities strikes down any notion about the source of law
outside the structure of society itself. For Dewey, the source of law is the social
experience of the people, not some transcendental concept, since all that the
people can appreciate well are their own experiences. The idea of social experience
as the source of law refers to the customs and usages of the people. These are the
continuing human activities and human interactivities. To put this in another way, a
group of people recognizes and accepts the desirable human activities (customs)
enriched by the desirable human interactivities (usages).
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The basic idea of Critical Legal Realism is that the law must not involve
politics and should be neutral or value free, the application or interpretation of the
law must reflect the reality of the issues that needs to be addressed.
The proponents of this theory believe that logic and structure attributed to
the law grow out of the power relationships of the society and that the prevailing
liberalistic views on law exists to support the interests of the party or class that
forms it and is merely a collection of beliefs and prejudices that legitimize the
injustices of society.
4.1 Preliminaries:
4.1.1 Who is a realist?
In art, realists depict the world around them as it actually appeared, rather
than painting flattering portraits of unattractive people and scenes too good to be
true.
In legal parlance realists seeks to deconstruct, challenge, and overturn
accepted norms and standards in legal theory and practice that mask the injustices
by bent doctrines or erroneous interpretation of the law that seem acceptable to
society.
4.1.3 Critical
Expressing disapproval or dissent; analytical approach
Critical Legal Realism therefore is the analytical deconstruction of the
prevailing liberal legal paradigm such as the ways in which the language of
impartiality, objective due process, and value free procedures hide and conceal
partisan operations of power and elite forms of social victimization.
4.1.4 Origins
Officially Started at 1977 at the conference at the University of WisconsinMadison, but its roots extend back to 1960 when many of its founding members
participated in social activism surrounding the Civil Rights movement and the
Vietnam War. apply the ideas, theories, and philosophies of postmodernity
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Bibliography
1 Introduction
Bodenheimer, E. (1940). Jurisprudence: The Philosophy and Method of the Law.
London: Oxford University Press. p. 124.
Frank, J. (1930). Law and the Modern Mind. New York: Brentanos Inc.
Fuller, L. (1934, March). American Legal Realism. University of Pennsylvania Law
Review, 82(5), pp. 429-462.
Green, M.S. (2005). Legal Realism as a Theory of Law. William and Mary Law
Review, 46(6), p. 1917-2000.
Pascual, C. (2003). The Legal Realist Perspective. In C. Pascual, Introduction to
Legal Philosophy (10th ed., pp. 288-418). Quezon City: University of the
Philippines Law Center.
Schlegel, J.H. (2001, February). Legal Realism. International Encyclopedia of the
Social & Behavioral Sciences. pp. 8667-8670.
Stone, J. (1946). The Province and Function of Law: Law as Logic, Justice, and
Social Control.
Radin, M. (1931, May). Legal Realism. Columbia Law Review, 31(5). pp. 824-828.
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