Research Of Karl. Llewellyn's Realism Jurisprudence-In The Context Of American Legal Transformation

American legal realist movement is the most important jurisprudence movement happened in United States in 20^th century. It not only has profound impact on American legal education and legal academy, but also contributed to American legal reform and the development of legal profession.As a leading figure in the realism legal movement and the main author of United Commercial Code, Karl Llewellyn's legal thoughts not only have influenced his era, but also keep working in the field of American legal research and practicing till today. In the mean time, there are controversial voices towards Llewellyn's legal thoughts; many of them are misunderstanding to his thoughts.There are limited researches in regards to Karl Llewellyn's thoughts in China, with the limited translation towards his works, most scholars in China only has basic understanding towards him, even fewer researches have been performed based on the historical background of his thoughts. Also, because indirect materials have been repeated used, misunderstandings towards him often arise.Based on the detailed introduce of Karl Llewellyn's legal thoughts in the background of the competitions and co-related movements between American legal formalism and legal realism in 19^th century, this article aims to help people understand more about the reasons behind his legal thoughts, and the values of them. In the same time, this article tries to clarify the misunderstanding points towards his legal thoughts.There are three main parts in this article.Partâ… is in regards to the transformation happened in American legal fields in 19^th century and what Karl Llewellyn stands for. The history of transformation that happened in American legal fields is also the history of the co-related movements of the formal characters and reality characters within common law tradition. The subtle on-going tensions between law and society, law and economy, law and politics lead to the idea changes that happened both in legal research and legal practice fields. Based on his talent insight, Karl Llewellyn found two different styles lie in American legal fields: Formal Style and Grand Style. His thoughts were in accordance with the transformation that happened in American legal fields, and helped a new round of movement from legal formalism to legal realism. Understanding the transformation that had happened helps readers have a deeper understanding towards the origin and reasons of Llewellyn's realism thoughts.Partâ…¡is in regards to the idea sources of Karl Llewellyn. Based on brief summary towards the thoughts of some legal realism movement leaders-Holmes, Pound, Cardozo and Hohfeld, this part reveals the long-term competition between legal formalism and legal realism, which helps readers have a broader idea about the sources of Karl Llewellyn's legal thoughts.Partâ…¢is the detailed introduction of Karl Llewellyn's realism legal thoughts. In his book A realist jurisprudence- the next step Llewellyn analyzed some basic legal concepts, e.g. 'concept', 'word' and gave some detailed reasoning about the correctness of his ideas. He pointed out that even the basis of legal formalism e.g. 'rules' and 'logic' may not necessarily lead to the justice that most people take granted. He creatively raised the ideas of behaviorism approach, for the convenience of research temporarily separate 'is' and 'ought' etc, in order to correct the drawbacks of legal formalism's over emphasis on formal logics and rules. Karl Llewellyn's realism legal thoughts together with the United Commercial Code gave a strong impetus to the reform of formalism in the fields of legal education, research and practice based on their profound influences. Through Karl Llewellyn's debate with Pound, the readers can gain a broader understanding towards Llewellyn's thoughts from both sides. The clarification between ideas of Llewellyn and R. Frank helps readers to understand the difference between Llewellyn and other realism scholars. This will also help readers to avoid the unspecific vague understanding towards Llewellyn. A further discussion towards the separation between 'is' and 'ought', Llewellyn's opinion towards judges' discretionary power and rules will further readers' understanding towards him.