About the Department

Like other departments in the Faculty of Law, the Department of Jurisprudence aims to contribute to the development of South African jurisprudence, legal theory and legal practice through teaching and research. Our core discipline, Jurisprudence, encompasses theory, history, philosophy, ethics and skills.  It urges us to go beyond mere institutional structures, sources and policy to search constantly for more.  

Max Weber talked about “modern disenchantment”.  Indeed, many ordinary people who are excluded from power and wealth are disenchanted with legal and other institutions and with democracy itself.  Several commentators have viewed Weber’s description as a call to “re-enchant” and “imagine”. Gilles Delueze (in conversation with Toni Negri) said:  ‘It’s jurisprudence, ultimately that creates law...'