Realist school of law — American Realist School The Scandinavian Realist School

Ask any litigator whether a client will win and she will not recite the statute. She will say: it depends on which judge gets the matter, how the facts come out, and how this court has treated similar cases. That everyday professional instinct is the seed of legal realism. The realists said that if you want to know what the law is, look at what courts and officials actually do, because the printed rules alone will mislead you. Two groups developed the idea in different ways, one in America and one in Scandinavia.

In two minutes

Legal realism holds that law is best understood by what judges and officials actually do, not by the rules written in books; American realists stress judicial behaviour and Scandinavian realists reject metaphysical notions and treat law as social fact.

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