It is worth mentioning that law has several philosophical roots. In fact, several philosophers came up with different points of view concerning the law, mostly international law and common law. Primarily, these people were influential in that they changed the legal landscape at that particular time. The philosophers were trying to create clear distinctions between the systems of norms that govern the people from the ethical practices, which were considered to be the law.
In essence, four basic philosophies of law were instrumental in shaping the legal scene and events up to the twentieth century. The four views include natural law theory, legal positivism, legal realism, and legal interpretivism (Finnis, 2011). Natural law theory states that some laws are in connection with nature. The theory further states that any law that is formed in that line should be as closely related to the legislations as possible (Finnis, 2011). Any law that is not in line with the natural law is considered as an unfair rule.
Legal positivism states that a law is defined by the social norms that are regarded as law by the society. According to this philosophy, acting contrary to the rules would lead to punishment (Finnis, 2011). Legal realism is of the view that the law needs to be practiced in courts, police stations, and offices that are dedicated to offering legal services. It is opposed to the norms set in statutes and other forums. On the other hand, legal interpretivism involves justification of practices and doctrines that are considered as law. In this scenario, it would be difficult for one to know, which kind of law exists in a particular society unless they are exposed to the practices and doctrines that are considered as law.
Perhaps the philosophy that describes the state of the law in America is the legal realism (Finnis, 2011). The American legal system depends on the courts of law to decide a particular action and give a judgment whether an action is lawful or not. In essence, this would be different in some parts of the world. However, in most countries, especially the democracies, they have adopted a legal realism kind of system.
References
Finnis, J. (2011). Philosophy of law: Collected essays (Vol. 4). Oxford University Press.
