DEPARTMENT XXI JURISPRUDENCE 



(Hall 3, September 20, 4.15 p. m.) 



CHAIRMAN: PROFESSOR GEORGE W. KIRCHWEY, Columbia University. 

 SPEAKERS: PRESIDENT CHARLES W. NEEDHAM, The George Washington Uni- 

 versity. 

 PROFESSOR JOSEPH H. BEALE, Harvard University. 



THE FUNDAMENTAL IDEAS AND CONCEPTIONS OF 

 JURISPRUDENCE 



BY CHARLES WILLIS NEEDHAM 



[Charles Willis Needham, President of The George Washington University, b. 

 Castile, Wyoming County, New York, September 30, 1848. B.L. Albany 

 Law School, 1870; LL.D. University of Rochester and Georgetown College, 

 Kentucky. Trustee of Columbian University, 1893-98; Dean of School of 

 Comparative Jurisprudence and Diplomacy, 1898-1902; Professor of Trans- 

 portation and Interstate Commerce, Trusts, and Trade-Unions, Columbian 

 University; appointed by President McKinley in 1900 a delegate to Congres 

 Internationale du Droit compare. Member of American Bar Association; 

 Geographic Society; American Economic Society; Cosmos Club, Washington, 

 D. C.] 



THE limit of this paper will not permit me to state, certainly not 

 to discuss, the definitions and opinions of many distinguished 

 authors who have written upon this subject. My aim shall be to 

 state and illustrate what seems to me to be the true fundamental 

 ideas and conceptions of what is called jurisprudence. 



Like all concepts, the idea conveyed by the word "jurisprudence" 

 has passed through stages of change and development. To define 

 clearly the present, and may I say the highest, conception, it is 

 necessary to review briefly these changes and thus arrive at a defini- 

 tion of the subject to be discussed. 



In its earlier, if not its original use, this word " jurisprudence " sig- 

 nified simply a knowledge of the laws of state. Among the Romans 

 it meant the knowledge of the laws recognized, administered, and 

 enforced under the Roman rule. This idea required the student 

 pursuing the subject to learn the rules of human conduct, of rights, 

 of obligations, and of remedies laid down by the juris-consults and 

 enforced by the courts within the Roman dominion. The study of 

 jurisprudence meant the study of the positive, municipal law en- 

 forced or enforcible within a given territory. In short, it was the 

 " study of law," using a phrase now in common use and familiar 

 to every member of the profession. This original use of the word 

 marks the beginning of what is termed the systematic study of the 

 laws of a nation the classification and codification of law. 



