Introduction to Legal Studies Section

Witte, John

Introduction to Legal Studies Section

Michael Welker and Gregor Etzelmüller, eds., "Concepts of Law in the Sciences, Legal Studies, and Theology" (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013), 227-238

Emory Legal Studies Research Paper No. 14-310

12 Pages Posted: 2 Nov 2014 Last revised: 11 Aug 2019

See all articles by John Witte

John Witte

Emory University School of Law

Date Written: 2013

Abstract

This article analyzes the shifting concepts of law in Western law and thought in early modern times and today. It first shows how the modern movement of interdisciplinary legal studies emerged as a corrective to the narrow positivist concepts of law that prevailed before the 1960s. It then shows how, in anticipation of modern methods, earlier Protestant legal thinkers had already worked hard to reconcile biblical and human laws, natural and positive laws, canon and civil laws, cases and legal codes in pursuit of a more integrated jurisprudence.

Keywords: Protestantism; natural law; legal positivism; canon law; civil law; legal codes; Harold Berman; Christoph Strohm; Mathias Schmoeckel; H.L.A. Hart; Immanuel Kant

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Witte, John, Introduction to Legal Studies Section (2013). Michael Welker and Gregor Etzelmüller, eds., "Concepts of Law in the Sciences, Legal Studies, and Theology" (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013), 227-238, Emory Legal Studies Research Paper No. 14-310, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2517732