17. THE DEVELOPMENT OF JURISPRUDENCE DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY ^ By Joseph Henry Beale, Je.^ THE term " jurisprudence " has been used with so many meanings, and each meaning is so vague, that it is neces- sary at the outset of any discussion of it to hmit in some way the meaning intended to be put upon it. By jurisprudence, as used in the programme of this Congress, I understand to be meant the whole body of law of the European and Ameri- can nations, regarded as a philosophical system or systems; in short, the science of justice, as practised in civilized na- tions. My own topic, therefore, is to describe the changes in the law or in the understanding of the law in the civilized world during the past century. So broad a subject cannot, of course, be treated exhaust- ively, nor can any part of it be examined in detail. My effort will be merely to suggest, in case of a few branches of law where the changes seem to be typical, the course and reason of those changes. If we compare the condition of the law at the beginning of
- This essay was originally delivered as one of the principal addresses
at the World's Congress of Arts and Science held in St. Louis at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904, and was published in the Pro- ceedings of the Congress, volume VII, pp. 470-481 (Department of Jurisprudence), and also in the Harvard Law Review, 1904-5, volume XVIII, pp. 271-283.
- Bussey Professor of Law in Harvard University. A. B. Harvard
University, 1882; A.M., LL. B., 1887; LL. D. Wisconsin and Chicago Universities; assistant professor of law in Harvard University, 1892, professor of law since 1897; professor of law and dean of the law school in Chicago University, 1902-1904. Other Publications: Cases on Criminal I>aw, 1894; Cases on Dam- ages, 1895; Cases on Carriers, 1898; Criminal Pleadings and Practice, 1899; Cases on the Conflict of Laws, 1902; Cases on Public Service Corporations, 1902; Foreign Corporations, 1904; Innkeepers, 1906; Regulation of Railroad Rates, 1906. 668
