ABSTRACT
Karl Marx (1818-1883), the son of a lawyer, and himself a student of jurisprudence, fashioned a theory of law in strict accord with his carefully-developed world outlook. Study was, for Marx, a means to an end: the end was the revolutionary transformation of society. An understanding of the nature of social phenomena such as economics, politics and law, would ensure that the path to revolution was charted properly. Comprehension of the origins and nature of law and of its objective role within society had to go hand in hand with a determination to change that society. ‘Up till now’, said Marx, ‘philosophers have merely interpreted the world; the point, however, is to change it.’ An understanding of jurisprudence demands more than a static analysis, according to Marx; it must encompass a study of the nature of law within a society in flux. Marx’s world outlook, founded upon his studies in philosophy at the University of Bonn, and, later, Berlin, where he was profoundly affected by the philosophy of Hegel (1770-1831), comprises three doctrines: dialectical materialism, laws of economic production, and historical materialism. Marxist jurisprudence reflects these doctrines.
