Analysis Of Ehrlich's "living Law" Theory

Eugene Ehrlich is a famous Austral lawyer,His whole life is dedicated toresearch and innovation of the Theory of Law．He is regarded as the father ofsociology of law,making huge contribution to the foundation of school of sociologyof law,His "living law" theory showed the great spirit of innovation in the time whenthe traditional School of Empirical Analysis leading the legal fashion,and be full of theenthusiasm and vigor,leaving the significant impression in the western legal history．The key point of this article focuses on the reorganization and analysis for Ehrlich"Living Law",to explore the essence of his theory and rational kernel,giving objectiveevaluation of its contribution to the history of theory in the law,pointing out that thistheory to the study of China's folk law lesson as well as folk law in the rule of law inthe role and significance,in consideration of contemporary heated discussion on folklaw and the current study situation．There are some possible points of innovation and difficulty in this article:Itexamines the Ehrlich's "living law" theory on the legal definition as well as the sourceof norms,ontological significance and methodological meaning of "living law",andpointing out the contribution and insufficiency within the history of the developmentof jurisprudence．And then it makes some linkages between attention of "livinglaw" theory and study of folk law in China,absorbs the essence of "living law"contributing to developing Rule of Law in China based on specific situation in Chinaand current social conditions,recognizes the limitations and eliminates the ingredientagainst specific situation in China and current social realities,and improve the studyon the folk law．There are some difficulties in this article as those which have deeplyexplored the theory of "living law" are so few,and Ehrlich's own writings which areintroducing to translation in china are also rare,therefore that causes some difficultieson the macro- grasping and comprehensive analysis．The main line of development ofthis article is:firstly,in the first chapter,it introduces the time-background and theoretic source of the "living law" proposal,and explains the huge impact of ideas ofnatural law in 17 and 18 century and customary law doctrine of Savigny Ehrlich,which made Ehrlich's legal ideas dramatic changed．He no longer believed in the legalmonism concerning state law dominating the world from School of EmpiricalAnalysis,but gradually began to explore the "living law" which is more extensive andgeneralized beyond state law；The second chapter focuses on the combing andanalysis on the ontological dimensions．First of all,it criticizes distorted concept of thelaw of the traditional legal schools with detailed evidence and rigorous proof,then redefinesthe concept of the law norms．And on this basis, it proposes the "living law"concept,which will be interpreted as social groups'internal order that is the real lawwith controlling of life itself．However,the Ehrlich's "living law" is not established asthe pure legal theory from beginning,he insists on placing the theories as equallyimportant as methodology,that's why this theory is a combination of theory andmethodology -a "living law" is also a research method；Therefore,in the third chapter,it analyzes the "living law" from the perspective of methodology in detail,and unfoldsthe discussion in the aspects such as sources of "living law",discovery of "livinglaw",discovery methods,and criticism on determine-free methods；The forth chaptergives the objective evaluation on the role of legal history based on the synthesis of"living law"．The fifth chapter sets forth some suggestion facilitating the study of thefolk law in "living law",in consideration of contemporary heated discussion on folklaw in China, explaining the status and significance of folk law in development of ruleof law in China,with some specific cases；Finally,in the conclusion,it will summarizethe whole article and launch the critique for this article itself．...