On Eugen Ehrlish’s Theory Of Living Law

The Eugen Ehrlich is one of the founders of the sociology of law, the living lawis the foundation of his legal sociological thought, it command Ehrlich’s legalsociological thought. At that time, the European city Bucovina which Ehrlich wasliving in, exposed a large number of social issues from the stage of laissez-fairecapitalism into monopoly capitalism. But the multi-ethnic community gave Ehrlich agood material to conduct social surveys. These times factors and geographic factorshave contributed to the generation of the theory of the living law. When the theory ofthe living law was developing, it absorbed the research results of The Analysis of lawschool and The Historical School of law, on the basis of their criticism and summary.After it constantly improved its theoretical framework and structure, and under thejoint efforts of many legal, he created a new emerging social sciences, Sociology ofLaw. Ehrlich based on the theory of living law, gave unique interpretation to manylegal issues. For example, the value of the nature of law, jurisprudence, law, etc.Especially in the function of the courts and judges, the living law theory suggests aunique path of Law, which call as Free-Finding-of-Law Movement. Ehrlich considered thatJudges are always legal proposition from a legal fact. Social disputes has many types, award casesare often not with corresponding legal proposition available. Therefore Bench decision is rarelybased on the legal proposition corresponding legal fact made and is more based on refereespecification which found by judge independently. The emergence of Ehrlish’s theory of living law injected a breath of fresh bloodfor the lack of innovative development of law then so that give inspiration andreference for the generation of many legal thought. Pound’s sociological jurisprudenceand American legal realism both have benefited from the theoretical foundation whichEhrlich’s laid.The first part, the connotation of Ehrlish’s theory of living law. This sectionbegins with the essay, and directly asked the object of this paper. And discusses thevalue, nature and manifestations of living law. By analysis living law on the socialfacts, I reveal the ways and means of researching Ehrlish’s theory of living law.The second part, the social structure of Ehrlish’s theory of living law. Thissection further elaborated the Ehrlish’s theory of living law’s impact on thedevelopment of sociology and law. By Ehrlich’s Layered analysis of social structureand the corresponding laws and social phenomenon, I pave the way for the practicalapplication of the theory of living law. And described and analyzed the four conceptsof social Commonwealth countries, national law and soft law, they work together tobuild the object of Ehrlish’s theory of living law’s practice object.The third part, the practical application of Ehrlish’s theory of living law. Thissection with Ehrlich’s law on freedom of movement thought, elaborated how livinglaw is used in the practice of law activities. In Ehrlich’s view, the practice of lawactivities can be summarized as the activities of the drafters of the judge’s activities,legal documents, the activities of counsel and vast range of contemporaryjurisprudence, agricultural, commercial and industrial affairs of the State, etc. Andjudges, jurists, legislators three play an important role in the practice of law in socialroles. In summary, Ehrlish’s theory of living law’s practical significance is reflected intheir specific legal practice activities. Ehrlish’s theory of living law put forwardconcrete proposals and programs for the development of the law, in the theory whichmakes deepest impact on future generations is the expansion and affirmation of thediscretion of the judge. Concluding section indicated Ehrlish’s theory of living law’s significance of themodern legal construction of China is requiring people to focus on the socialdimension of inspection in the legislative and judicial process, in order to enhance theactivity of the law as a whole.