John Austin and the Foundation of Jurisprudence as an Independent Science: A Focus on The Province of Jurisprudence Determined

Bayat Komitaki, Mahnaz; Dehnavi, Ebrahim

doi:10.30465/crtls.2025.51135.2909

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research

Authors

¹ Assistant Professor, SBU, Tehran, Iran.

² , PHD Student SBU, Tehran, Iran.

10.30465/crtls.2025.51135.2909

Abstract

John Austin (1790-1859), an English jurist and legal philosopher, played an unparalleled role in the establishment of jurisprudence as an independent science. Emphasizing positive law as the object of legal science and the analytical-conceptual method as its method of study, Austin, in his book The Province of Jurisprudence Determined, paved the way for transforming law into an autonomous discipline. This article employs an analytical-conceptual approach to examine Austin's thought on the foundation of legal science. To this end, while reviewing Austin's life and times, the necessity of defining the province of jurisprudence and its distinction from other normative domains is explained. Subsequently, by elucidating the distinction between "law" and "the science of law," the difference between the natural object and the legal object, and positive law as the object of legal science, the concepts of sovereign and sovereignty in Austin's thought, and the issue of the validity of law and "habit of obedience" in the command theory of law are addressed. Then, Austin's separation of law from morality is examined, and his project for transforming law into an independent science is described. The results of this research show that, despite all the criticisms leveled against him, Austin, by putting forward this idea, paved the way for the independence of legal science and its transformation into a distinct discipline, and his legacy remains alive and dynamic in legal discourse.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Jurisprudence and Law

References

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Pizhuhish nāmah-i intiqādī-i mutūn va barnāmah hā-yi ̒ulūm-i insāni (Critical Studies in Texts & Programs of Human Sciences)

John Austin and the Foundation of Jurisprudence as an Independent Science: A Focus on The Province of Jurisprudence Determined

References

References

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 13 May 2025

John Austin and the Foundation of Jurisprudence as an Independent Science: A Focus on The Province of Jurisprudence Determined

References

References

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript Available Online from 13 May 2025

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 13 May 2025