Rudolf Von Ihering was a German jurist known as the 'father of modern sociological jurisprudence'. He originally belonged to the historical school of jurisprudence but became convinced the origin of law lies in sociological factors after writing about Roman law. Ihering viewed law as a means to an end, with the end being furthering and protecting the interests of society. He stressed balancing individual, state, and social interests, with social interests taking priority. Law serves to reconcile selfish and unselfish purposes through principles like reward, coercion, duty, and love.

1. Rudolf Von Ihering
Sociological School of Jurisprudence

2. Ihering was from Germany. He is known as the ‘father of
Modern Sociological Jurisprudence’. His philosophy is also
known as ‘jurisprudence of interests’.
Earlier, Ihering had belonged to the Historical School. While
writing a book on Roman Law, Ihering became convinced
that the origin of law lay in sociological factors. Thereafter,
he dedicated the rest of his life towards Sociological
Jurisprudence.

3. Law as a Means to an End
The driving force behind the exercise of human will is purpose. A
man does an act in order to attain something. Law is but a part
of human conduct. Laws spring from purpose. Their purpose is
to further and protect the interests of the society.
The problem of society is to reconcile selfish with unselfish
purposes and to suppress the former when they clash with the
latter. Ihering stressed that law does not exist for the
individual as an end in himself, but serves his interest with the
good of society in view.

4. If the society is happy,
so will be the individual.
Law is a means to an end. The
examples of such an end may
be social values like honesty,
justice, peace, non-violence etc.

5. The conflicting interests
Ihering stressed on balancing between various interests. He
said that social interest must be given priority over individual
interest. He grouped interests into 3 categories: individual,
state and social.
INTEREST
Individual
For eg. Fundamental Rights
State
For eg. Fundamental Duties
Social
For eg. DPSPs

6. The conflicting interests
The social activities of man need to be encouraged. The following
principles direct men towards social ends:
1. Principle of Reward
2. Principle of Coercion
3. Principle of Duty
4. Principle of Love
The first two, reward and coercion, seek to identify the selfish interest
of man with some larger social interest. The other two, duty and
love, are altruistic principles.

7. Where duty, love and reward proved
insufficient, Ihering said that the use of
coercion by the state was justified to protect
social interest.

8. Ihering sees law as only one type of means to
achieve an end, namely, social control.
Ihering draws a distinction between society
and state and says that laws are a feature of
the latter, the state.

9. Ihering was inspired by Bentham and
Mill’s utilitarianism for he defines
‘interest’ in terms of pleasure and pain.
Ihering’s theory is also known as ‘social
utilitarianism’. But he rejected their ideas
of individualism. Individualism, according
to him was incompatible with the cause of
social justice.

10. His Ideas on Property
Property is both an individual and a
social institution. This justifies
limitations put on individual’s right
to property.

11. Ihering, unlike Savigny, believed that
law did not grow spontaneously like a
language. Rather, he attributed
deliberate conscious efforts to the
growth of law.
On the growth of Law

12. Criticism of Ihering’s Theory
He gave very little insight on how the balance could be
achieved between the conflicting interests. Thus, he
has only come up with a problem but has failed to
provide any solution to it.