Roscoe Pound - Jurisprudence Notes

Roscoe Pound

·         As per Pound, in primitive societies the law aimed at nothing more than keeping the peace.

·         In his opinion law’s task post 18^th century merged with the aim of ‘bringing about and maintaining a maximum strength and efficiency in organised society, identifying the political organisation of society with civilisation.

·         His personal view was that law’s task is to recognise and adjust competing interests with a minimum of friction and waste.

·         He identified legal and judicial activity as a form of social engineering.

·         By ‘social engineering’ Pound meant that it was a comparison of the legal task to that of a problem-solving design engineer who tries to make the machine run more efficiently and smoothly.

Interests

·         Interests are claims that persons make of the legal system.

·         Some of these claims are already recognised by law, but there are others that are not so recognised.

·         Pound identified three kinds of interests:

o    Individual interests - relate to person, property and personal relations such as marriage.

o   Public interests relate to the dignity of the state as a juristic entity.

o   Social interests include the interest in public safety, peace and order, and public health.

·         These interests are frequently in conflict.

·         In order to resolve conflicts courts should secure as much as possible of the scheme of interests as a whole with the least friction and waste.