Founders of Legal Thought
Who first thought hard about what law is? This guide puts 37 lawgivers, jurists and philosophers on one timeline, from Hammurabi and Confucius to Hart and Dworkin, with their big ideas in plain English and a chart to compare them.
Part of the comparative law toolkit. Each person belongs to one or more schools of legal thought.
Each bar runs from a person's first to last date; the ancient world is compressed so that all of it fits. Click a bar for the person's page.
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| Thomas Aquinas1225–1274 | Jeremy Bentham1748–1832 | H.L.A. Hart1907–1992 | Ronald Dworkin1931–2013 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Italy and France | England | England | United States and United Kingdom |
| Role | Theologian and philosopher | Philosopher and reformer | Professor of jurisprudence at Oxford | Professor of jurisprudence at Oxford and New York University |
| Schools | Natural Law Theory | Legal Positivism | Legal Positivism | Law as Integrity (Interpretivism) |
| The big idea | Law is an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by the person in charge of the community. He divided law into eternal, natural, human and divine law, and argued that a human law that conflicts with natural law lacks the force of law. | Law should be judged by the principle of utility: the greatest happiness of the greatest number. He separated what the law is from what it ought to be and urged codification and clear language, and he rejected 'natural rights' as nonsense. | A legal system is the union of primary rules that impose duties and secondary rules that say how rules are made, changed and recognised. A rule of recognition is the accepted test of what counts as law. Law and morality are conceptually separate, though they overlap in content. | Judges decide hard cases by principles as well as rules, and a judge should seek the interpretation that best fits and justifies the legal practice. Rights are 'trumps' against majority preferences. |
| Main work | Summa Theologiae, Treatise on Law | An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789) | The Concept of Law (1961) | Taking Rights Seriously (1977); Law's Empire (1986) |
| Legacy | The classic statement of natural law theory, still the starting point for modern natural lawyers. | The founder of legal positivism and of utilitarian law reform. | The central book of 20th-century analytical jurisprudence. | Hart's principal critic and the most influential rights theorist of his time. |
Read this first
These are short summaries of large lives and bodies of work, chosen to give a first map of legal thought, not a ranking. Dates are the standard ones, with 'c.' or 'active' where they are uncertain. We paraphrase and never quote, and each summary simplifies. Read the original works before you cite anyone. This is general information, not legal advice.
All 37 thinkers
Ancient world
- Hammurabireigned c. 1792–1750 BC
King and lawgiver.
- Confucius551–479 BC
Philosopher and teacher.
- Aristotle384–322 BC
Philosopher.
- Han Feizic. 280–233 BC
Legalist philosopher.
- Marcus Tullius Cicero106–43 BC
Statesman, advocate and philosopher.
- Gaiusactive c. 130–180 AD
Roman jurist and teacher.
- Papinianc. 142–212 AD
Roman jurist and praetorian prefect.
- Domitius Ulpianus (Ulpian)c. 170–223 AD
Roman jurist.
- Justinian I482–565 AD
Emperor and codifier.
Middle Ages
- Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i767–820
Jurist; founder of the Shafi'i school.
- Irneriusactive c. 1100
Teacher of Roman law; first of the Glossators.
- Gratianactive c. 1140
Monk and canon lawyer.
- Thomas Aquinas1225–1274
Theologian and philosopher.
Early modern
- Sir Edward Coke1552–1634
Judge and Member of Parliament.
- Hugo Grotius1583–1645
Jurist and diplomat.
- Thomas Hobbes1588–1679
Philosopher.
- John Locke1632–1704
Philosopher.
- Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu1689–1755
Political philosopher and magistrate.
- Sir William Blackstone1723–1780
Judge and law professor.
- Cesare Beccaria1738–1794
Jurist and Enlightenment writer.
- Jeremy Bentham1748–1832
Philosopher and reformer.
19th and 20th centuries
- Friedrich Carl von Savigny1779–1861
Jurist and professor.
- John Austin1790–1859
Jurist and first professor of jurisprudence at University College London.
- Rudolf von Jhering1818–1892
Jurist and professor.
- Sir Henry Maine1822–1888
Jurist and historian of law.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.1841–1935
Judge of the US Supreme Court.
- Eugen Ehrlich1862–1922
Jurist and founder of legal sociology.
- Roscoe Pound1870–1964
Jurist and Dean of Harvard Law School.
- Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld1879–1918
Jurist and professor.
- Hans Kelsen1881–1973
Jurist; drafter of the Austrian Constitution of 1920.
- Karl Llewellyn1893–1962
Jurist and professor; principal drafter of the Uniform Commercial Code.
- Lon L. Fuller1902–1978
Jurist and professor.
- H.L.A. Hart1907–1992
Professor of jurisprudence at Oxford.
- Ronald Coase1910–2013
Economist and law professor.
- Ronald Dworkin1931–2013
Professor of jurisprudence at Oxford and New York University.
- John Finnisborn 1940
Professor of law and legal philosophy at Oxford.
- Catharine A. MacKinnonborn 1946
Professor of law.
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