Le droit des livres et le droit en pratique

Abstract

This text is a critic of the formalism and historicism of the American legal thought in the beginning of the Twentieth century. The term « law in books » refers to the written statutes, and Pound considered that these written statutes was often too harsh, too inadequate and sometimes outdated. The term « law in action » refers to how the courts tend to interpret and apply these written statutes. Due to inadequacy of the written law, these judicial interpretations may be very different as the law in the books. Pound saws three main reasons of divergencesa withdrawn way of thinking about law, and preference given to legal justice in place of social justice ; an overly rigid and individualist legislation ; an complex and expensive and slow-moving administrative machinery. In conclusion, Pound proposed possible ways of improving the legal system : lawyers had to look the changes in the face and the jurisprudence had to open itself to others sciences. Legal thought must be renovated according to the reality of human conduct to reduce divergences between law in books and law in action.

Keywords

• American legal thought
• sociological jurisprudence
• court interpretation
• formalism
• realism
• legal fiction