I.

Introduction
The first call of the theory of law is that it should fit the facts.
-Justice Holmes

This paper attempts to do some personal and professional background

research on one of the philosophers, namely Wesley Hohfeld. Wesley
Newcomb Hohfeld is an American jurists, although he died at the age of 39,
he was one of the chief writers in the history of American jurisprudence. He
loved music, never married, and walked for creation. He had occupations
including being an author, a professor and a philosopher. He was the author
of the influential Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial
Reasoning and other Legal Essays.

This paper will also offer a short discussion about some legal philosophy of
Hohfeld which contributes to the study of Law such as the Fundamental Legal
Conceptions, Hohfelds first contribution which is distinguishing the different
type of rights (claim, liberty, authority, and immunity) and that each kind of
right has a correlative legal consequences for others.

Ill begin my discussion with the personal and professional background of the
American jurists Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld, then afterwards identify and
discuss some legal philosophy the professor had written during his days.
Lawyers and legal historians are familiar with the philosopher for other
reasons, after all, he was a very famous professor who in his short life had a
considerable impact on analytical jurisprudence and his influence can be felt
in a number of areas of legal thought today. Hohfeld was a meticulous
practical lawyer, he was convinced of the importance of legal theory and his
1

way of approaching legal theory is through legal practice. During his life he
published only a handful of law journal articles; after his death his work
Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied to Judicial Reasoning had been
partially revised and the book was published with the inclusion of the
manuscript notes that the late professor had left including seven other
essays.

The painstaking analysis of a keen mind who is enthusiastic to break through

to the authenticity of things legal, no matter how well acknowledged or time
consuming, is evidently shown on every pages of Hohfelds writings.

Although, the American jurists work has been extremely significant in many
fields, his primary concerned was with the legal rights arising from trusts,
contracts,

and

partnership

agreements.

His

work

could

be

found

outstandingly in works of other legal philosophers.

It is for a fact that the larger portions of Hohfelds published writing is

dedicated to legal analysis, in which he excelled because of his great
analytical power and sternly logical mind. His writings consist entirely of
articles in legal periodicals and are scattered throughout several pages of
these writings.

At the time of his illness and death, the American jurist was planning the
completion and publication in the immediate future of the analytical work
which could be regarded as the most significant contributions which he made
to the fundamental of legal theory.

II.
Personal and Professional Background
Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld was born on the 8 th of August 1879 in Oakland,
California into an artistic and intellectual family circle. Hohfeld is a brilliant
student during high school in San Francisco and at the University of
California,

Berkley,

where

he

received

gold

medal

for

scholarly

achievement and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1901. Hohfeld

demonstrated early an intensity and keenness that would mark his entire
career. After he graduated from College, he directly went to Harvard Law
School, entering in 1901. During his course in Law, he served on the editorial
board of the Harvard Law Review. He graduated cum laude in 1904. Upon the
completion of his course in Law he returned to San Francisco and engaged in
general practice of law. After a year of practice in San Francisco, at the end
of which he was proferred but refused a partnership, he began his career as
a teacher of law, first as instructor of law in Hastings College of Law, then he
accepted appointment to the faculty of Stanford Law School where he was
promoted rapidly until he left in 1914 to join the faculty of Yale Law School.
Hohfeld was later named Southmayd Professor of Law, the position that he
held at Yale until his unexpected death on October 21, 1918 in Haven,
Connecticut.

His death was the result of endocarditis (an inflammation of the inner layer
of the heart) which followed by the severe attack of grippe (an acute febrile
contagious virus disease). Since February of 1918, he has been constantly
confined to his bed. During the summer, he returned to his sisters home in

Alameda, California, where his sufferings end on October 21 st of the same

year. He was thirty-nine years old and a bachelor when he died. Even during
weeks on his illness, his thoughts were frequently directed towards the
School and his return to its work.

As a professor, Hohfeld was motivating to his students, particularly the

qualified ones. He set high standards not only for his students but also for
himself. But many young lawyers who were his previous students, afterwards
written him that the preparation he gave them helped them a lot in their
practice.

While Wesley Hohfeld was a student of numerous branches of the law and
possessed a knowledge that enabled him to attain an understanding which is
uncommonly wide, it was in the field of analytical jurisprudence that his
deepest interest lay and it is in this field that he has made the greatest input
to legal learning.

At the time of his death he had in preparation casebooks on Trusts, Evidence

and Conflict of Laws, and had collected a mass of material for publication in
further explanation of the principles laid down and developed in his
Fundamental Conceptions.
Below is a list of Wesley Hohfelds publications:
The Nature of Stockholders Individual Liability for Corporation Debts (1909)
9 Columbia Law Review, 285.
The Individual Liability of Stockholders and the Conflict of Laws (1909) 9
Columbia Law Review, 492; (1910) 10 ibid, 283; 10 ibid, 520.
The Relations Between Equity and Law (1913) 11 Michigan Law Review, 537.

Some Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied to Judicial Reasoning

(1913) 23 Yale Law Journal, 16; (1917) 26 ibid,710.
A Vital School of Jurisprudence and Law (1914) Proceedings of Association of
American Law Schools.
The Conflict of Equity and Law (1917) 26 Yale Law Journal, 767.
Faulty Analysis in Easement and License Cases (1917) 26 Yale Law Journal,
66.

Hohfelds contribution was to make things easier; he created a very

particular analysis which distinguished between fundamental legal concepts
and then identified the framework of relationship between them. His work
offers a sophisticated method for deconstructing broad legal principles into
their component elements. His major work is just contained in two articles in
which he sets out his analysis of legal concepts in his famous table of
correlative and opposites.

Wesley Newcomb Hohfelds work remains an influential contribution to

modern understanding of the nature of rights and the implication of liberty.
To mirror Hohfelds continuing significance, a chair at Yale University was
named after him.

III.
Legal Philosophies