The Influence of Carlvon Savigny upon Karl Marxs Thoughts on Law - Essay Example

Student’s name Course code+name Professor’s name University name City, State Date of submission ABSTRACT Volksgeist concept is one of the concepts in law which has a great influence of the thoughts of many scholars across the world and he attracted many followers. Among the followers of Volksgeit theory is one other than Karl Marx, this paper discuses how the theory and writing of Fredrick Carl Von Savigny influences the thoughts of Karl Marx about law. It starts by introducing the background of both Fredrick and Karl Marx, their main writings and ideology of the law. It goes on and discuses the historical schools championed by both Fredrick Von and Karl Marx. It discuses the Volksgeit theory and the social development of law, it concludes by giving the how the thought of Karl Marx changes. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT 2 1.0 Introduction 5 2.0 Historical school. 6 3.0 Volksgeist 9 4.0 Law and social development 10 5.0 Conclusion 10 THE INFLUENCE OF CARLVON SAVIGNY UPON KARL MARX’S THOUGHTS ON LAW 1.0 Introduction Fredrick Carl Von Savigny is one of the greatest German jurists who stands out among many law scholars whose works are generally agreed upon by all scholars and has a very greater influence among historical school of jurisprudence1. He is one of the pioneers and champions of school of jurisprudence in the early 19th century, he is the founder of the study between the relationship on legal and social development. As he was one of the greatest social scientist, Von made immense an outstanding contribution in the school of jurisprudence and this impacted on other social disciplines among others2. Some of the contributions he made include; The continuity which exist between the legal institutions, that is between the past and present legal institutions Standing and lying of legal frame work and foundation for legal sociology Articulating and laying out the foundation of historical research methods The writing of Fredrick Von influenced the thought of Karl Marx view of law, thus the intent of this paper is to discuss how the works of Fredrick Savigny influences the thoughts of Karl Marx about law.3 The influence of Karl Marx was mostly experienced in 1980’s, across the world, the follower of Karl Marx were later came to be known as Marxists. Marx was also among the greatest philosopher in Germany, and gave out great idealism that the world was actually evolving like living organism. He argued that the progress in science was not very smooth and hence he came up with the theory of dialectic4. The influence of Von on the Karl Marx thinking about law was first realized during the debate of codification of law, when the German professor of law Thibaut, issued a grand plan to the people of Germany in 1814 of unification of the German State since it was politically divided by then5. The same year Savigny produced a pamphlet protesting on the code of unification. Von stated that any kind of reform which is against the stream and continuity of the nation is can not be accepted and the first essential element needed to reform and change the German law was deep understanding of the history, it is the same history of law which Karl Marx rooted for6. 2.0 Historical school. There are majorly two reasons which fueled evolution of historical school of law. First it came as a result of resisting the natural law which was majorly relied upon as the basic reference of the law and which contained some basic principles elements of universal application and they failed to take inconsideration the basic historical, social and other factors. Secondly, it resulted as a point of reaction opposing analytical positivism which was built upon a soul-less unproductive sovereignty7. The tenets of historical law which both Von and Karl championed for includes; Jurisprudence of history where judges who believed on it consider custom, history and tradition before they could make judgment on a case The second school views law as a legacy and a result of past tradition, beliefs and customs which normally prevail, among different communities. It views law as a growth which changes gradually and evolutionary and not artificial but living organism. In the Vom Beruf unsrer Zeit Savingny explained the historical growth of the law and the evolvement of courts through legal and ethical consciousness among people. The historical school which consisted of Karl Marx stacked to the research of legal transformation and origins, Savigny believed that legal matters and laws have their own history a position which was later reiterated by Karl Marx in his writings in 1815. Savigny was the founder of law theorization which conceptualizes the evolving and changing nature of law as a whole8. The Marxism’s is a philosophy of history; it also includes an economic doctrine which was championed by Karl Marx, it also contained the theory of evolutional of law and society explaining how the society evolves and grows from one stage to another. Karl believed that is only him and his group of scholars could understand the historical change and they hold the key of predicting the future happening, the same position hold by Von. Marx explain that; “Communism is the riddle of history solved.” He also agree with Carl Von when he stated that they are the only people who have both the scientific and empirical approach to the history of humanity, law and society “Just as Darwin discovered the law of development of organic nature, so Marx discovered the law of development of human history”9 and Carl Von is the father of the evolution. The two main ideas in Maxims include Class struggle Materialism By materialism, Marx explained that the whole society is being driven by economy and without economic development and empowerment; the society cannot move a head by all circumstances. According to Marx, the economic forces in the society are more pervasive and complex beyond our reasonability and thinking, is the same economic forces which determines our perceptions and thinking in general, he stated “Consciousness is from the very beginning a social product.”10 Within the society, the means of production of the life materials determines the societal character, perception, spiritual processes and political lifestyle of the society. Marx reiterated that it the consciousness of a man plays no role in determining how they exist but in the contrary, their social, economic and political existence determines and predict their consciousness. This is a fundamental influence which Carl Von instilled in Karl Maxs. As Carl Von insisted that the law can not be understood with an exclusion of history, Therefore: "The history of humanity must always be treated in relation to the history of industry and exchange, independent of the existence of any political or religious nonsense”11 Quoted by Karl Max. In the second Maxims of class struggle, the history of materialism is taken a class further, by examining the social class antagonist. In political sense, the class struggle depicts the struggle for the control of the state and economic powers among individual and classes of people12. 3.0 Volksgeist In this theory, the general will of the people was always prevailing and was being given first priority among the historical school. The Volsgeit always view the conscience of people as the key principle in determining the will of people and the basis legal system. Though Karl Maxs argue that the consciousness of people and their thinking are not independent and always depend on the mode of production, Max was concurring with him that law should not be arbitral, and literally made by law makers and givers of law, this could actually contradict the common goal and interest of the people13. Carl Volksgen defines law as the product of internally silent forces which operates within individuals, while Max terms them as economic forces which control human consciousness and their thinking. As the historian of Jurisprudence argue that judges must relies on the custom, beliefs and traditions when making their decisions, the nations law are also based on the past customs and the common consciousness of people. The Volksgeist concept contributed towards the growth and the functionality of law14. The law cannot exist and rule unless it is unanimously agreed upon and accepted by all people. The law should be for betterment and development of all people hence it should be accepted and supported by all. The concept of common consciousness championed by Carl Volsgeit did not only influence Karl Max thinking but also the Nepalese legal system. 4.0 Law and social development The Volksgeist, theory influences the mind of Karl Max and he started viewing law as a social instrument for well being of the whole society, Savigny and his followers enter into the legal field having debated over the law and its relation to justices15. Through their study and development, they developed the modern jurist of the law. The Karl Max foundation of historical schools law was a product of the Savigny arguments of the controversial codification of law in Germany. In the school of historian, the law can exist independently without state, the law was a not creation of nature but of natural consciousness as claimed by Volskgeit.16 5.0 Conclusion The arguments of Fredrick Carl Von greatly influences the Karl Max view and thoughts of law, in the most of his work more so in the field of economics and rule of natural justices, Karl Max arguments were similar with those of Fredrick Carl von. The most common point is where both of them argue in the spirit of consciousness and forces which hold the society together. The work of Carl Von and his followers revolutionize the field of law and it’s Jurisprudence. The spirit of the law for the benefit of all and the control of power in the class struggle and control of the state resulted as a result of the work of Volsgeit. Though through his work, Karl max argued to be independent and relies on his own work as he tends even to criticize even his own supporters, it can be seen that the work of Fredrick Volsgeit have influence in his thoughts and arguments about law. Read More