Jurisprudence

The study of law and the structure of the legal system.

The science of the law. By science is understood that connexion of truths which is founded on principles either evident in themselves or capable of demonstration; a collection of truths of the same kind, arranged in methodical order. In a more confined sense, jurisprudence is the practical science of giving a wise interpretation to the laws and making a just application of them to all cases as they arise. In this sense, it is the habit of judging the same questions in the same manner and by this course of judgments forming precedents.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.

Thus, jurisprudence has come to refer to case law, or the legal decisions which have developed and which accompany statutes in applying the law against situations of fact. - (read more on Jurisprudence)
  

The science of law; the study of the structure of legal systems,such as equity, and of the principles underlying that system, a collective termdenoting the course of judicial decision, i.e., case law, as opposed tolegislation; sometimes a synonym for law.