Philosophy of Law : A very Short Introduction

Descriptive legal theory seeks to explain what the law is, and why, and its consequences. Normative legal theories, on the other hand, are concerned with what the law ought to be. Put differently, descriptive legal theories are about facts, normative legal theories are about values. There are three principal types of descriptive legal theory. First, there is the ‘doctrinal’ approach which propounds a theory to elucidate a particular legal doctrine. For example, freedom of expression might be justified by decisions of the courts on the limits of free speech. Doctrinal legal theory seeks to answer questions such as ‘can these cases be elucidated by some underlying theory?’

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