Roscoe Pound: His Jurisprudential Legacy And Influence On Contemporary Legal Thought
- IJLLR Journal
- Sep 19
- 1 min read
Harshika Sinha, Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad
Rishav Bannerjea, Xavier Law School, St. Xavier University, Kolkata
ABSTRACT
This paper explores the life and work of Roscoe Pound, who is often described as one of the most significant jurists of the twentieth century. Pound’s journey into law was unusual, beginning with his early training in botany, which later influenced his habit of treating law as something to be studied systematically and in relation to its practical results. As Dean of Harvard Law School, he pushed legal education away from rote learning and toward an understanding of law as part of social life. The central focus of the paper is Pound’s theory of sociological jurisprudence. He argued that law should be seen as a tool of social engineering, meant to balance individual, public, and social interests. His distinction between “law in books” and “law in action” showed the gap between what laws claim to do and what they actually achieve. In addition, he emphasized that the law must change to meet evolving needs in his conception of the jural postulates of civilized society and his flexible view of justice. Even though critics have pointed out that Pound's method of balancing interests can be vague and dependent on judicial discretion, his influence cannot be denied. In the US, his ideas helped to establish Legal Realism. His views are reflected in India through Public Interest Litigation and constitutional rulings that link social justice and the rule of law. Even today, debates on privacy, digital regulation, and environmental protection echo his insistence that law should remain a living, responsive instrument.
