Criticism and Defence of Legal Doctrine

Abstract

Let me now turn to a critical assessment. Legal doctrine is a product of premodern evolution, for it developed in a line that spans from Greek philosophy and Roman law to medieval jus commune and the reaction against natural law effected in the spirit of Hegel and Savigny. Modern philosophy made a linguistic turn and left this tradition behind. The new philosophy—more or less analytic—led to an erosion of legal doctrine. At the same time, radical reformers perceived legal doctrine as an unnecessary ballast. Indeed, criticism affected all legal argumentation, in legal practice and doctrine alike.