SCI EN C E -Supplement. 



FRIDAY, JULY 2, 1886. 



ECONOMICS AND JURISPRUDENCE. 



Mr. Ingram, in his excellent article upon po- 

 litical economy in the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica,' 

 states as a charactei-istic feature of the historical 

 school of economists, that they recognize a close 

 relation to exist between economics and juris- 

 prudence. "The point," he says (and this he 

 takes from Dr. Adolph Wagner of the University 

 of Berlin), "upon which all turns, is the old ques- 

 tion of the relation of the individual to the com- 

 munity. Whoever, with the older juristic and 

 political philosophy and national economy, places 

 the individual in the centre, comes necessarily to 

 the untenable results which, in the economic field, 

 the physiocratic and Smithian school of free com- 

 petition has set up. Wagner, on the contrarj^ in- 

 vestigates before every thing else the conditions of 

 economic life of the community, and, in subordi- 

 nation to this, determines the sphere of the eco- 

 nomic freedom of the individual." It is my pur- 

 pose in Avhat follows to expand somewhat the 

 view thus expressed, and to show why it is im- 

 possible for the economist to arrive at just con- 

 clusions in economic matters unless he consciously 

 allows his thought to be influenced by a keen ap- 

 preciation of the science of jurisprudence, as also 

 of the juridical strvicture of the society to which 

 his attention is addressed. 



It may avoid some misapprehension if we state 

 clearly at the outset what is meant by the terms 

 ' jurisprudence ' and ' economics.' In the science 

 of jurisprudence it is common to consider the legal 

 structure of society, that phrase being used in its 

 broadest sense. It might indeed be said that this 

 science builds the framework of society, were 

 there not danger of pressing the metaphor so far 

 as to give rise to the conception of a purely me- 

 chanical arrangement in human relations. Ques- 

 tions of government, if they do not pertain to 

 administration or to pure politics, find treatment 

 under jurisprudence, as also do established cus- 

 toms which grant personal rights and liberties, 

 and established laws which determine the nature 

 of property. Or, to state the matter concisely, 

 the material out of which a science of juris- 

 prudence is formulated is, 1"^, "the essential in- 

 stitutions of human society, by the use of which 

 the objects of that society are carried out thi-ough 

 the medium of government ; '" 3°, the established 



opinions of society, expressed in law, by which 

 rights and duties, liberties and limitations, are 

 determined for individual members of society. 



Economics, on the other hand, deals with in- 

 dustrial activity. It has to do with men, with 

 corporations, and with governments as industrial 

 agents. It may, indeed, be properly defined as 

 the science of industrial society ; and one obtains 

 for the first time a clear view of its general bear- 

 ing when he discerns its subordinate relation to 

 the science of society as a whole. The material 

 out of which this science is built includes, 1°, the 

 economic nature of man, to which all industrial 

 activity may be traced ; 2°, the material surround- 

 ings of men, to whose physical laws then- in- 

 dustrial activity will in the long-run conform ; 

 3°, the legal structure of society, which con- 

 ditions the exercise of such industrial rights as 

 are granted. None of these factors may be dis- 

 regarded by the economist, if he would arrive at 

 correct conclusions respecting the industrial ac- 

 tions of men ; and the ' lego-historic ' facts, al- 

 though they may vary from time to time, are of 

 as much importance while they last as the per- 

 manent facts of nature. Throughout the entire 

 history of the world, until the dawn of what Ave 

 technically term ' modern times,' the form of 

 undertakership was dependent on the political 

 structure of society. We observe property rights 

 to have developed fi'om communal to perso*ial 

 ownership ; and with each step in this dhection 

 there has been a corresponding development of 

 industrial methods. It has freqviently been pointed 

 out that x^ersonal liberty, and the freedom of ac- 

 tion that it implies, were necessary to the realiza- 

 tion of the industrial organization with which we 

 are now familiar. And it is not too much to say 

 that the economic character of man itself has been 

 modified by means of the hereditary transmission 

 of habits first contracted through the pressure of 

 changes in the social structure ; for, as the stroke 

 of the shuttle is limited by the framework of the 

 loom, so the industrial movements of men are 

 bound by the liberties of law and of custom, and, 

 to carry the metaphor a step further, the indus- 

 trial weaving of society is largely determined by 

 its legal structure. 



If the analysis thus suggested be correct, one 

 cannot disregard the close relation that exists 

 between economics and jurisprudence. Both 

 branches of thought are part of the larger study 

 of society, and neither can be satisfactorily pur- 



