A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law. Depending on jurisdiction, the term "jurist" can refer to a legal scholar, a judge, or a lawyer.
By jurisdiction
Common law
In the United Kingdom, the term is sometimes used to describe legal scholars.12
In the United States, the term often refers to a judge.3
Civil law
In Roman law, the term jurisconsult (iurisconsultus, sometimes also translated to simply "jurist" in English) referred to a kind of legal professional in Ancient Rome.4 Presently, a number of civil law jurisdictions retain the term "jurist" (or its equivalent in the native language) to refer to a person with legal training or practice experience.
In Norway, the term is a protected title and refers to lawyers, judges, and academics who have a qualifying law degree.5
In Switzerland, the term "juristes" is not a protected title referring to a professional lawyer but refers more broadly to persons who have a degree in law.6
Notable jurists
Some notable historical jurists include:
- Ur-Nammu
- Lycurgus of Sparta
- Solon
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
- Ulpian and Gaius
- Muhammad Averroes
- Thomas Aquinas
- Hugo Grotius
- Alberico Gentili
- Francis Bacon
- William Blackstone
- Cesare Beccaria
- Jeremy Bentham
- Amina, bint al-Hajj ʿAbd al-Latif
- John Stuart Mill
- John Marshall
- Felix Frankfurter
- Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
- Hans Kelsen
- Pontes de Miranda
References
References
- Murray, James A. H., ed. (1901). "Jurist". A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles. Vol. 5. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 636.
One who professes or treats of law; one versed in the science of law; a legal writer.
- Vieto Piergiovanni (2000). Comparative Studies in Continental and Anglo-American Legal History. Germany: Duncker & Humblot. p. 236. ISBN 978-3428097562.
- Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2019). "Jurist". Black's Law Dictionary (11 ed.). Thomson West. ISBN 9781539229759.
- "jurisconsult". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. OCLC 1032680871.
- Falkanger, Thor (8 July 2022). Gisle, Jon (ed.). "jurist". Store Norske Leksikon. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- "Juristes" in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.