LL.

B Part-I (05 Years) Program – Annual System

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Paper-IV: Introduction to Philosophy of Law 100 Marks

Course Objectives:

This will be an introductory course for newly admitted students about the meaning, role and
nature of law. It will cover areas such as the function and purposes of law, the territorial nature
of law, sources of law and its classification and legal concepts of rights and duties. Moreover, it
will develop an understanding of the origin and development of law. The focus of this course
will be to develop a deeper understanding of the subject through different types of legal theories
such as Natural Law Theory, Positive Theory and Legal Realism etc.

Course Learning Outcomes:

On the successful completion of this course, the students will be able to:

 demonstrate a better understanding of the functions, purpose, philosophy and meaning of

law.
 gain the basic and advance philosophical knowledge of the law.
 demonstrate a clear, in-depth understanding of the principal schools of thought and the
nature of law.
 demonstrate precise knowledge of the major theoretical debates in the philosophy of law

Course Contents:

1. What Is Law?
 Meaning
 Definition by Different Jurists
2. Role of law in Society
3. Sources of Law
i. Legislation
ii. Precedent
iii. Custom
4. Classification of Law
i. Imperative and Positive Law
ii. Physical and Scientific Law
iii. Natural and Moral Law
iv. Conventional Law
v. Customary Law
vi. International Law
vii. Civil Law
viii. Criminal Law
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 5. Theories
i. Natural Law Theory
ii. Legal Positivism
iii. Pure Theory of Law
iv. Social Contract Theory
v. American Legal Realism
vi. Critical Theory
6. Legal Rights & Duties
 Concept of Right
 Characteristics of Legal Rights
 Concept of Duty
 Whether Rights and Duties are Correlative
 Liberties and No-Right
 Powers and Liberties
 Immunities and Disabilities

Recommended Books:

1. Mark Tebbit,Philosophy of Law: An Introduction (Taylor & Francis 2017)

2. Keith Culver,Readings in the Philosophy of Law - Third Edition (Broadview Press 2017)
3. Roscoe Pound, An Introduction to The Philosophy of Law (Yale University Press 2022)
4. John Tasioulas, The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Law (Cambridge University
Press 2020)

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