Realist School

The realist movement is a part of the sociological approach and is sometimes called the left wing of the functional school or sociological school. It rejects the traditional theory of law that is a body of rules and principals that courts enforce and concentrate on the decision given by law courts. The decisions are based not only on 1 formal law but also on the human

 Realists believed that law is not a scientific enterprise in which deductive reasoning can be applied to reach a determinate outcome in every case. Instead, most litigation presents hard questions that judges must resolve by BALANCING the interests of the parties and ultimately drawing an ARBITRARY line on one side of the dispute

Reason for the establishment

To point out the importance of courts and judges the human factor in the judges and the lawyers. Influenced by the pragmatic philosophy from abstraction and a priori principles they turn towards fact and action.

American Realists
American Realism is a combination of the analytical positivist and sociological approaches. It is positive in that it first considers the law as it is and as the expression of the will of the State, but see this as made through the medium of the Courts. Realists are interested in sociological factors that influenced law and their 4 concern is with law rather than with

 The realist approach is highly empirical. They propounded that Law i.e. the decisions of judges, are the product of ascertainable factors including amongst these are: Their personalities Their social environment The economic conditions in which they have been brought up Business interests Trends and movements of thought 5 Emotions and psychology

 For example, when a court is asked to decide whether a harmful business activity is a common-law NUISANCE, the judge must ascertain whether the particular activity is reasonable. The judge does not base this determination on a precise algebraic equation. Instead, the judge balances the competing economic and social interests of the parties, and rules in favor of the litigant with the most 6 persuasive case.

 John Gray and Oliver Holmes are prominent jurist of this school. Gray defines law as what the judges declares. He contended that courts put life into the dead works of the statute and everything else including statues until interpreted by a court. Oliver Holmes also propounded the theory on the similar lines of Gray and defined law in term of consequences. He also contended that there is no law until a court has 7 passed judgment on certain facts.

Criticism
Too much importance to human factors Undermined the importance of legal principals and rules It was wrong to say that certainty in law is a myth. All emphasis on litigation, but there are so many laws which never come before a court of law
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