Word
Of
The
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jurisprudence
jurisprudence \joor-us-PROO-dunss\
noun
Jurisprudence is a formal word that typically refers to the science or philosophy of law, or to a system or body of law.
// An undergraduate class on
jurisprudence inspired her decision to go to law school.
See the entry >
Examples:
"The nine justices follow our national debate as close as any political pundit, and it shapes their
jurisprudence in countless ways." — Andy Greene,
Rolling Stone, 22 Jan. 2024
Did you know?
"For a farewell to our
jurisprudent, I wish unto him the
gladsome light of jurisprudence…." With this farewell to English
jurist Sir Thomas Littleton, another jurist named
Sir Edward Coke welcomed two new words into English. In 1628, his
jurisprudence meant "knowledge of or skill in law," a now-archaic sense that reflects the meaning of the word's root.
Jurisprudence goes back to the Latin phrase
prudentia juris (literally "skill in law"), from which came the Late Latin formation
jurisprudentia, and subsequently the English word. The noun
jurisprudent means "one skilled in law"—in other words, a jurist or a judge. There's also
jurisprude, a somewhat rare 20th-century
back-formation created from
jurisprudence with influence from
prude. It means "one who makes a showy display of jurisprudential learning."