Interpretation of jurisprudence and law in the doctrine of T. E. Holland

Abstract

The subject of this research is the legal doctrine of the leading representative of English legal positivism of the last quarter of the XIX – first third of the XX centuries of Thomas Erskine Holland. The article is dedicated to examination of the two key aspects of his concept – comprehension of the nature of jurisprudence as a science, and law as a type of social norm. Leaning on the classic work of the British jurist “The Elements of Jurisprudence” (1880), the author defines the understanding of jurisprudence and law, reveals the historical-cultural meaning of Holland's legal doctrine for the subsequent development of English jurisprudence. Methodological framework is comprised of the historical approach, elements of biographical approach, techniques and procedures of legal hermeneutics, rules and techniques of formal logic, and elements of comparative-legal method. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that this article is first within Russian legal science to conduct the concept analysis of the key theoretical-legal definitions (jurisprudence and law) of T. Holland’s doctrine, as well as reveal the ideological interrelation between the views of the British jurist and the founders of analytical jurisprudence. The author also substantiates the position, according to which Holland's approach towards comprehension of the nature of jurisprudence as a science can be defined as dogmatic. T. Holland's contribution to the development of legal positivism consists in argumentation of the formal and analytical nature of legal science, as well as in carrying out gradual differentiation of positive law from natural and social norms, and analysis of the crucial theoretical concepts of legal science.