Legal realism is a school of legal philosophy that is generally associated with the culmination of the early-twentieth century attack on the orthodox claims of late-nineteenth-century classical legal thought in the United States (American legal realism). American Legal Realism is often remembered for its challenge to the Classical legal claim that orthodox legal institutions provided an autonomous and self-executing system of legal discourse untainted by politics. Unlike Classical legal thought, American Legal Realism worked vigorously to depict the institution of law without denying or distorting a picture of sharp moral, political, and social conflict. The most important legacy of American Legal Realism is its challenge to the Classical legal claim that legal reasoning was separate and autonomous from moral and political discourse.
Read more about Legal Realism: Antecedents, Defining Legal Realism, Further Explanation, Expanding Influence, Continuing Relevance
Famous quotes containing the words legal and/or realism:
“If he who breaks the law is not punished, he who obeys it is cheated. This, and this alone, is why lawbreakers ought to be punished: to authenticate as good, and to encourage as useful, law-abiding behavior. The aim of criminal law cannot be correction or deterrence; it can only be the maintenance of the legal order.”
—Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)
“I hate vulgar realism in literature. The man who could call a spade a spade should be compelled to use one. It is the only thing he is fit for.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)