LITERARY ^'^OTICES. 



749 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



The Science of Law. By Sheldon Amos, 

 M. A., Professor of jurisprudence in 

 University College, London, Interna- 

 tional Scientific Series, No. X. 417 pp. 

 Price §1.50. 



Prop. Amos has written a book which 

 will prove peculiarly acceptable at the pres- 

 ent time; for, although discussions in re- 

 spect to the application of the scientific 

 method to social aftairs are becoming com- 

 monplace, there is, nevertheless, a profound 

 interest in the general question, and there 

 is certainly a strong desire to know what 

 can be done by that method in a field which 

 is at once so practical and so unpromising 

 as that of law. Whatever may be said about 

 it, it is an undeniable fact that science has 

 effected a foothold and begun to make itself 

 at home in social inquiries, and it is certain 

 not to go backward in the future. More- 

 over, in no region of thought have greater 

 changes already occurred in the modes of 

 inquiry than in the study of society. The 

 old conceptions of history as the exponent 

 of social life and progress are declining, 

 and in their place we see steadily growing 

 the conception of society as a sphere of phe- 

 nomena in definite relations, to be analyzed, 

 described, and classified, in the same way as 

 any other department of Nature. Facts are 

 to be observed and generalized, uniformities 

 traced, and inductions estabhshed, not ex- 

 act, of course, as in the exact sciences, but 

 with the utmost degree of accuracy that the 

 case admits, until our knowledge of the sub- 

 ject shall be reduced to scientific order. 

 The group of social phenomena that are 

 termed legal affords no exception to this ten- 

 dency. Jurisprudence, indeed, has not for- 

 merly been wanting in its scientific form ; 

 in fact, it could not be systematically dealt 

 with at all without involving the rudiments 

 of a scientific method ; but later investiga- 

 tions have tended increasingly to show how 

 arbitrary and insufficient these methods 

 were. The work of Prof. Amos is at the 

 same time a landmark of progress and a 

 reexposition of legal facts and principles in 

 the direction which is certain to be pursued 

 in the future. 



The two English writers, leaving out 



Bentham, whose labors have done most in 

 developing the science of law, are Austin 

 and Maine. Though both expositors of the 

 same subject, they worked in entirely differ- 

 ent ways. Austin, after describing the na- 

 ture and province of law, examined and an- 

 alyzed the fundamental conceptions which 

 are common to all legal systems, and de- 

 duced from such analysis the principles of 

 logical classification. In accepted language 

 Austin occupied himself with the philosophy 

 of law. On the other hand, Maine takes 

 legal institutions as they are and have been, 

 and traces them back to their earliest forms. 

 He brings into full view the order of evolu- 

 tion and the influences which determined the 

 course and progress of legal ideas. These 

 two methods, the historical and analytical, 

 are not opposed to each other as competi- 

 tors, one of which must prevail. They really 

 complement each other ; the fruits of both 

 are needed ; they run into each other at every 

 point. In our opinion, there is still another 

 line of inquiry which must be taken up to ' 

 complete the explanation of legal phenom- 

 ena. Laws are made to effect definite pur- 

 poses ; they are the means by which certain 

 actions and relations of mankind are regu- 

 lated. Law-making is surrounded with the 

 most difficult problems, and has for its only 

 guide considerations educed from experience 

 and the constitution of human nature and 

 society. These purposes and, to a certain 

 extent, these problems, the student of law 

 must investigate; to stand outside, refusing 

 to touch them, invites fatal criticism. We 

 should say, then, that the scientific treat- 

 ment of law includes the analysis and clas- 

 sification of legal conceptions ; inquiry into 

 the origin and evolution of legal institutions ; 

 and the theory of legislation. Prof. Amos 

 adopts this view, and it colors every chap- 

 ter of his work. He has dared to be com- 

 prehensive, and so has given us a treatise 

 which will have a permanent value. Every 

 department of law is explored in the direc- 

 tions indicated, and with all the fullness that 

 can be expected in a popular book. The 

 author travels over a wide field ; and he is 

 a guide that turns the attention of his read- 

 ers to every part, pointing out the most im- 

 portant features with unusual skill and ex- 

 actness. 



Such being the general plan of the work, 



