Definition of Jurisprudence:

The term jurisprudence is derived from its Latin equivalent

Jurisprudentia which means knowledge of law. Juris means law and
prudentia means science. Thus etymologically jurisprudence means
science of law.

Nature of Jurisprudence:
Jurisprudence is the name given to a certain type of investigation into the
nature of law, an investigation of an abstract, general and theoretical
nature which seeks to lay bare the essential principles of law and legal
system. In jurisprudence we are not concerned to derive rules from
authority and apply them to problems; we are concerned rather to reflect
on the nature of legal rules and on the underlying meaning of legal
concepts. In jurisprudence we ask what is the criterion of a rule in order
to become a legal rule and what distinguishes law from morality,
etiquette and other related phenomena.

Utility of the Study of Jurisprudence:

1. It is essential for a lawyer in his practical work to have
knowledge of jurisprudence. Without such knowledge no lawyer
can really measure the assumptions upon which his subjects rest.
When no statutory provisions or any precedent is available to
decide a particular case, jurisprudence affords a grand help to
lawyers to determine the possibilities and probable consequences
of such cases and decide accordingly.

2. The basic sources of a legal system are to be found in its

authoritative sources; and the investigation of the nature and the
working of legal authority naturally form a subject of
jurisprudential enquiry. On the other hand, jurisprudence consists
of analysis of the legal concepts which are used in the study and
practice of typical legal subjects concerning different kinds of
rights, which one person may have against another, and
investigates and examines other legal concepts such as act,
intention, negligence, ownership possession, and so on.
In this respect the jurist appear in the guise of a logician
elucidating synthesis of legal concepts.
3. Jurisprudence is also a functional study of the concepts which the
legal systems develop and of the social interest which the law
protects. For, one task of jurisprudence is to link law with other
disciplines and so help to locate it within its wider social context.

4. Jurisprudence also has an educational value, since the logical

analysis of legal concepts sharpens the lawyers own logical
technique. In addition, the study of jurisprudence can help
conduct the lawyers occupational vice of formalism, which leads
to excessive concentration on legal rules and disregarding the
social function of law. This is best remedied by setting the law in
its proper context and by considering the needs of society.
5. Jurisprudence can also be compared to the science of grammar.
It is seen that languages differ from one another in many respects
but there are certain things common in all of them like tenses,
subject, object etc. Similarly jurisprudence as formal science or
the science of the first principles of civil law may also be called
the grammar of law, as it deals with the purpose, method and
principles common to every system of law. Hence G. W. Paton
remarks Jurisprudence is a particular method of study, not of the
law of one country, but of the general notion of law itself.