Jurisprudence
What the exam tests
Jurisprudence tests the structure of legal norms, sources and hierarchy, legal relations, interpretation and reasoning, liability, and the official conception of the socialist rule-of-law system. It rewards precise distinctions more than broad definitions.
Core concepts
- A legal norm typically has a factual condition and a legal consequence. Legal facts (events or acts) trigger legal relations; a legal relation is a relationship of rights and duties between subjects.
- Sources form a hierarchy: Constitution, laws, administrative regulations, local regulations, and departmental or local rules. Lower norms must conform to higher norms.
- Interpretation methods include literal, systematic, historical, and teleological. Where a norm is unclear, use the text, context, legislative purpose, and objective order of values.
- Legal liability requires a basis in law; criminal liability follows legality, while civil liability may arise from contract, tort, unjust enrichment, or negotiorum gestio.
- Analogy is prohibited in criminal law but may be used cautiously in civil matters, subject to legality and public order.
Worked example
A statute says the seller shall deliver the goods at the agreed place. No place is agreed. A court asks whether it can imply a term. The reasoning: first, check whether the Civil Code supplies a default rule; second, use systematic interpretation to see how the default interacts with risk transfer; third, consider purpose, since delivery should be at a place that makes performance possible. The court should not invent a term contrary to mandatory rules. If no default applies, the gap may be filled by custom or good faith, but the reasoning must show the hierarchy and method used.
Traps
Do not confuse legal facts with legal relations. Do not say legal effect when you mean legal validity. Do not apply criminal law by analogy. Do not treat all customs as binding. Do not ignore the difference between a norm's validity and its factual enforcement. Do not use equity as a free-standing source without a legal basis.