This is an article about a school of thought in the area of law

Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

. For economics

Economics

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

, see historical school of economics

Historical school of economics

The Historical school of economics was an approach to academic economics and to public administration that emerged in 19th century in Germany, and held sway there until well into the 20th century....

.

The German Historical School of Law is a 19th century intellectual movement in the study of German law. With Romanticism as its background, it emphasized the historical limitations of the law. It stood in opposition to an earlier movement called Vernunftsrecht (Natural Law).

The Historical School is based on the writings and teaching of Gustav Hugo

Gustav Hugo

Gustav von Hugo was a German jurist.He was born at Lörrach in Baden. From the gymnasium at Karlsruhe he passed in 1782 to the University of Göttingen, where he studied law for three years. Having received the appointment of tutor to the prince of Anhalt-Dessau, he took his doctor's degree at the...

 and especially Friedrich Carl von Savigny

Friedrich Carl von Savigny

Friedrich Carl von Savigny was one of the most respected and influential 19th-century jurists and historians.-Early life and education:...

. Natural law

Natural law

Natural law, or the law of nature , is any system of law which is purportedly determined by nature, and thus universal. Classically, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature and deduce binding rules of moral behavior. Natural law is contrasted with the positive law Natural...

yers held that law could be discovered only by rational deduction from the nature of man.

The basis premise of the German Historical School is that law is not to be regarded as an arbitrary grouping of regulations laid down by some authority. Rather, those regulations are to be seen as the expression of the convictions of the people, in the same manner as language, customs and practices are expressions of the people. The law is grounded in a form of popular consciousness called the Volksgeist.

Laws can stem from regulations by the authorities, but more commonly they evolve in an organic manner over time without interference from the authorities. The ever-changing practical needs of the people play a very important role in this continual organic development.

In the development of a legal system, is it the professional duty of lawyers – in the sense of the division of labor in society – to base their academic work on law on ascertaining the will of the people. In this way, lawyers embody the popular will.

The German Historical School was divided into Romanists and the Germanists. The Romantists, to whom Savigny also belonged, held that the Volksgeist springs from the reception of the Roman law

Roman law

Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the 7th century AD — when the Roman–Byzantine state adopted Greek as the language of government. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence — from the Twelve...

. While the Germanists (Karl Friedrich Eichhorn

Karl Friedrich Eichhorn

Karl Friedrich Eichhorn was a German jurist.Eichhorn was born in Jena as the son of Johann Gottfried Eichhorn. He entered the University of Göttingen in 1797. In 1805 he obtained the professorship of law at Frankfurt , holding it till 1811, when he accepted the same chair at the new Friedrich...

, Jakob Grimm, Georg Beseler

Georg Beseler

Carl Georg Christoph Beseler was a Prussian jurist and politician....

, Otto von Gierke

Otto von Gierke

Otto Friedrich von Gierke was a German historian. He was born in Stettin , Pomerania, and died in Berlin.-Scholar:...

) saw medieval German Law as the expression of the German Volksgeist.

The German Historical School has had considerable influence on the academic study of law in Germany. Georg Friedrich Puchta

Georg Friedrich Puchta

Georg Friedrich Puchta was a German jurist.Born at Kadolzburg in Bavaria, he came of an old Bohemian Protestant family which had immigrated into Germany to avoid religious persecution. His father, Wolfgang Heinrich Puchta , a legal writer and district judge, imbued his son with legal conceptions...

 and Bernhard Windscheid

Bernhard Windscheid

Bernhard Windscheid was a German jurist and a member of the pandectistic school of law thought...

continued the Romanist vein founded by Savigny, leading to the so called Pandektenwissenschaft which is seen as Begriffsjurisprudenz (conceptual jurisprudence).