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Scandinavian Realism

Scandinavian realism emphasized empiricism and viewed law as a social phenomenon rather than a set of doctrinal or metaphysical concepts. Key figures included Axel Hagerstrom, who rejected objective values and viewed legal concepts as reflecting actual use, and Alf Ross, who saw legal norms as directives corresponding to social facts that guide judicial behavior when consistently followed. Ross believed validity referred to the predictability of a norm being applied, and that valid law provided an interpretive framework for how the legal system functions in practice based on shared social expectations.

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343 views9 pages

Scandinavian Realism

Scandinavian realism emphasized empiricism and viewed law as a social phenomenon rather than a set of doctrinal or metaphysical concepts. Key figures included Axel Hagerstrom, who rejected objective values and viewed legal concepts as reflecting actual use, and Alf Ross, who saw legal norms as directives corresponding to social facts that guide judicial behavior when consistently followed. Ross believed validity referred to the predictability of a norm being applied, and that valid law provided an interpretive framework for how the legal system functions in practice based on shared social expectations.

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2050101 A YUVRAJ
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Scandinavian Realism

Jurist in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and


Iceland gave lesser importance to judicial behaviour
and psychology
Yet shared a radical empiricist attitude towards law and
life
Ross – All metaphysics are a chimera, and there is no
cognition other than empirical
Law is a social reality, eschewed of doctrinal
jurisprudential conceptions like morality, natural law,
idealism and metaphysical notions of right / duty/
sovereignty etc.
Axel Hagerstrom (1896-1939)
Father of Scandinavian realist movement
He rejects the idea of objective value and pleads instead for
an examination of the actual use of legal concepts
The mental attitude involved in the conception of law
There is nothing like ‘goodness’ or ‘badness’
They are simply emotional attitudes of approval or
disapproval
Magical belief - Development of the primitive belief in the
power of words to affect happenings in the world of fact -
obligations
Olivecrona
Law concerns itself with the actions of men
Law is a set of social facts
They are in no sense will of state or command
They are independent imperatives
Issued from time to time by constitutional agencies
They operate on the mind of the judge
Bindingness in law comes from consent, withdraw consent
it ceases to be valid
Study of law should be taken up as a social fact – social
investigation is necessary
Alf Ross
Legal notions must be interpreted as conceptions of
social reality, the behaviour of man in society and as
nothing else
A norm is a directive which stands in relation of
correspondence to social facts
Norms are directives to courts
Norm exists means such directives are followed in a
majority of cases by people who feel bound to do so
Norms of Law –
◦ Norms of conduct
◦ Norms of competence or procedure
Validity is the degree of predictability that a norm will
be applied
The degree of probability depends on the material of
experience on which the prediction is built that is the
sources of law
Where probability is high, the validity is high
A valid law means an abstract set of normative ideas
which serve as a scheme for interpretation for the
phenomenon of law in action, which in turn means that
the law is effectively followed because they are
experienced and felt to be socially binding by the
judge and other legal authorities applying the law
On criticism that norms aren't only addressed to the
courts Ross opined that from a psychological point of
view they are addressed to individuals too
Alf Ross
► The Game of Chess- Rules that tell you how the game
must be played as opposed to strategy
► Why does one choose not to break these rules? Morality?
If broken, we must presume that person breaking does not
want to win by the rules, hence ulterior motive- money or
fame
► Like cards for example
► Directives on the other hand, are to be decided based on
each game and what the players feel they are bound by
► The norms of chess make it possible to understand the
phenomenon of chess
► Same applies to law as well

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