The Concept of «Jurisprudence» in the French Legal Doctrine: the Source of Law, Judicial Practice or a Fact of Legal Policy?

The article deals with the matters concerning the concept of jurisprudence – one of the most important parts of the French legal theory. The author highlights various aspects, meanings and significance of the concept within the continental legal system. She studies different approaches to define this term, such as the source of law, the system of legal norms, judicial practices, and norm-setting authority of judiciary. In order to distinguish the specific features of jurisprudence as the source of law there is a comparison between jurisprudence and other sources – law and custom. The role of science in establishing jurisprudence as the source of law is revealed: jurisprudence is defined as a child of a judge and a scientist. The article also analyses the arguments of the scholars who reject the status of jurisprudence as the source of law and consider this phenomenon simply as a factor of influence, an authoritative opinion of the courts. Final solution of this problem depends on how the term "the source of law" is treated.