The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (Great Minds Series) [Paperback]

John Austin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1573928453 | ISBN-13: 978-1573928458 | Publication Date: November 2000

A work that has had a profound influence on the study of English and American law, "The Province of Jurisprudence Determined" is a model of rigorous and clear analysis. With its publication Austin brought order to the disparate elements of a legal profession that up until his time was largely unsystematic. Although he was greatly respected by a small circle of supporters, including Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, his work received little attention beyond his friends during his lifetime. It was only after Austin's death that his writings began to attract general notice. Then his analysis became the focal point for strong disagreements over the true nature of law, the definition of law as a form of command with implied sanctions, and the problem of differentiating legal authority, political power, and morality. The later fame of his work appears to have resulted from the controversies it generated. Perhaps Austin's most significant contribution was to make a clear distinction between 'positive law' (ie: laws decreed by the sovereign or government) and moral principles (which he terms the 'law of God'). In so doing he defined the field of inquiry for later students. Also of interest is the influence of utilitarian philosophy on his analysis: for example, he viewed the principle of social utility as a benchmark for discerning God's commands and hence for judging the overall moral quality of rules of conduct. Whether one agrees or disagrees with Austin's analysis, it is clear that his work is now established as indispensable for all discussions of jurisprudence.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

This edition of a classic work of nineteenth-century English jurisprudence (1832), a subject on which Austin eventually had a profound impact, includes the complete and unabridged text of the fifth (1885) and last edition. Biographical synopses supplement a comprehensive introduction and bibliography. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

John Austin was born March 3, 1790, at Creeting Mill, Suffolk, England. After five years in the army, Austin began to study law, and from 1818 to 1825 he practiced at the chancery bar. In 1820, he married Sarah Taylor (1793-1867), who translated and edited German and French historical texts, including Leopold von Ranke's HISTORY OF THE POPES (1840) and HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY (1845) and Francois Guizot's ENGLISH REVOLUTION (1850). Both Austin and his wife were ardent Utilitarians; intimate friends of social theorists Jeremy Bentham, James Mill, and his son John Stuart Mill; and much concerned with legal reform. When University College, London, was founded in 1826, Austin was appointed its first professor of jurisprudence. He spent the next two years in Germany studying Roman law and the work of German experts on modern civil law. Austin's first lectures, in 1828, were attended by many distinguished men, but he failed to attract students and eventually he resigned his chair in 1832. In 1834, after delivering a shorter but equally unsuccessful version of his lectures, he abandoned the teaching of jurisprudence. He was appointed to the Criminal Law Commission in 1833 but, finding little support for his opinions, resigned in frustration after signing its first two reports. In 1836 he was appointed a commissioner on the affairs of Malta. The Austins then lived abroad, chiefly in Paris, until 1848, when they settled in Surrey, where John Austin died at Weybridge in December 1859. Austin's best-known work, a version of part of his lectures, is THE PROVINCE OF JURISPRUDENCE DETERMINED, published in 1832. Defining the sphere of ethics and law, it came to revolutionize English views on the subject, and was welcomed by American jurists such as J.C. Gray and Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Product Details

• Paperback: 410 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (November 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573928453
• ISBN-13: 978-1573928458
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,958,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Awful OCR rendition of the Province of Jurisprudence Determined, January 18, 2011

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J. Snider (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (Paperback)

I had no idea that the scanned version of this book would be of such low quality. As far as I'm concerned, the book was all-but-unreadable. The inner parts of paragraphs were usually readable. But the openings were often unreadable, seemingly starting in mid-sentence. And most of the different sectional markers normally used to guide reading were either missing or run in with the regular text. All-in-all, I cannot recall seeing such a poor OCR job for many years. I can only wonder what software the publisher used or what carelessness was exhibited in the scanning of this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the "founders" of "legal positivism", January 15, 2009

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Michael A Neulander "Political Philosophy" (VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (Great Minds Series) (Paperback)

I read this book for a class on the philosophy of law. The English legal philosopher and jurist, John Austin, was instrumental in developing the theory of legal positivism, which held that there had to be a separation between religious laws of morality and positive or human made law. In his book "The Provence of Jurisprudence Determined," he delineates how laws are made and obeyed. "Every positive law, or every law simply and strictly so called, is set, directly or circuritously, by a sovereign person or body, to a member or members of the independent political society wherein that person or body is sovereign or supreme" (253-254). Therefore, in a representative democracy, the people are the sovereign and either they or their elected representatives produce the laws.

Austin argued against judges interpreting their nation's constitution or law code to make perceived necessary changes to keep up with changing social values. Austin believes that in a democratic society, the people are sovereign and thus a nation's constitution and law code should be changed by the people's elected representatives and not by appointed judges. Austin is not against citizens changing their Constitution or laws, "... the Constitution should keep up to date--but it should keep up to date with the views of the people."

Austin's genius was in his perception of the history of how nations govern, which has provided ample proof that there is a direct correlation between those democracies that maintain a healthy balance of powers between the branches of government and are the same democracies that are most protected from the danger of slipping into tyranny; whether it is rule by a dictator or rule by a politically privileged few, such as an oligarchy.

Recommended reading for those interested in philosophy, history, and political science.

1.0 out of 5 stars Do not buy, October 1, 2011

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Scipio - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (Paperback)

This copy contains numerous typos, terrible formatting, no footnotes, chapter titles--it is all but unreadable. I ordered this for a class I'm taking and had to buy a wholly new copy. Avoid this at all costs, DO NOT BE FOOLED.