In 2008, a major Australian university began promoting its new graduate law program with the tag line, “Don’t get lost in legal theory, get into practice!” Call me old fashioned, but I believe that to be an effective lawyer, judge or even legal secretary, one should understand the underlying rational for one’s legal system. Legal philosophy, or jurisprudence, is central to practical application of law.

Contemporary legal education has disconnected practice and theory, and in convening The Journal Jurisprudence, I am seeking to bridge this gap. The field of jurisprudence lies at the nexus of law and politics, the practical and the philosophical. By understanding the theoretical foundations of law, jurisprudence can inform us to the place of legal structures within larger philosophical frameworks.

The Journal is issued four times per year. Each edition will focus on a key question of the discipline. Lawyers, philosophers, jurists, academics and lay individuals are welcome to submit articles addressing, directly or indirectly, the edition’s key question. Articles will be curated based upon, among other things, accessibility to lay readers. If we are to bridge the ever-widening gap between theory and practice, this journal must be read by more than just jurisprudential scholars.

Dr Aron Ping D’Souza
Editor