Introduction

Summary

The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (1832) (cited hereafter as PJD) is a classic of nineteenth-century English jurisprudence. It has been read by generations of students and left an indelible impression upon some of them. The book itself contains most, though not all, of the core of John Austin's legal philosophy (the rest of it may be found in his posthumously published Lectures on Jurisprudence (LJ)). Although his work did not become widely known until the 1860s, some of his ideas eventually had a profound impact on the study of legal theory in England. Moreover, Austin exerted an influence in many other parts of the world, including the United States. Such leading American jurists as Justice Holmes (1841–1935) and J. C. Gray (1839–1915) knew their Austin and adopted some of his ideas. If he has often been ignored or rejected in the twentieth century, the situation changed dramatically in the 1980s (Morison, John Austin; Hamburger, Troubled Lives; Rumble, Thought; Moles, Definition and Rule). In any event the PJD is not a narrow, legalistic treatise intended only for students of jurisprudence. Instead, Austin designed it so that ‘any reflecting reader, of any condition or station, may … understand it’ (PJD: xx). He reasoned that ‘the nature or essence of law, and … morality, are of general importance and interest’ (PJD: xix–xx). The same is true of many of the other issues discussed in his book, the only one that he published in his lifetime.