The genealogy and the present practice of the "dogmatic method"

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The main object of this project is to describe the genealogy and the present practice of the "dogmatic method" in legal science.In German private law science of the 19th century, scholars tried to find out some "key-principles of positive laws", and starting from these principles, they constructed systematic theory of law. They believed that if they succeed in this systematical reconstruction, they will be able to obtain the correct understanding of the laws. They also believed that they can cover all defects in legislation by deducing correct directions from their legal system. Because these legal scientists went too far in relaying on the logical consistency and thus neglected to evaluate the practical meaning of their legal construction, they were soon criticized as "Begriffsjurisprudenz".According to my research so far, the method of this dogmatic science is still in use in our legal science and there are some advantages in applying it. Because it makes us for example free from the book stab application of laws ; the legal principles and maxims lead us to think laws more dynamically, as Ronald Dworkin stresses it.On this account, I tried in the years 2004-2006, firstly, to understand how this way of handling laws developed among so-called modern natural law scholars under the influence of Cartesian and Hobbesean philosophy. I studied, secondly, the 19th century German lawyers focusing on how they developed this way of thinking based on the philosophical tradition of Christian Wolff, Kant and Hegel. I also compared this type of legal science with those in the ancient Rome and the Middle Ages.Based on this research, I have completed my book "History of Western Legal Ideas", that will be published in September 2007