ular consensus, as well as the law’s rooting in the popular sense of justice, scientific law bases its authority to produce new law solely upon the scientific consistency of its doctrines. Since the Pandectist definition of a scientific principle’s validity is its system-coherency, scientific law thus equals the agreement between the new principle of jurisprudential law and the formal system of law with the former’s status as a valid source of law.246 In other words, if the newly formulated principle is the legal differentia specifica of a legal genus proximum, then the principle is law.247 A new principle of law that is possible to subsume under an already existing superior principle of law, is scientifically based and hence part of valid law.Accordingly, in respect of the Historical School as presented by Savigny et al., a shift has occurred and from then on, the emphasis of scientific law became logical rather than historical, and scientific law is made less dependent upon history than before. Stahl’s critique of Puchta’s strictly logical hierachy of concepts, the pyramid of concepts, and his eternal concepts of law serves as an example of the development away from the earlier organic system conception of the early Historical School.248 It is thus hardly surprising that legal historians and theoreticians have singled out Puchta as being the forerunner, if not the father, of Begriffsjurisprudenz.249 a ca l l f o r s c i e n t i f i c p u r i t y 623 246 See, e.g., Puchta, Gewohnheitsrecht I, pp. 161-167. Jhering, Geist 2:II, pp. 402-405 and 412-414. Cf.Wilhelm, Juristischen Methodenlehre, pp. 74-80. 247 See, e.g., Jhering, Geist 2:II, pp. 362-363, 370, 387-388, and 390-396. Cf. Haferkamp, Puchta, pp. 444-448. 248 Cf.Wilhelm, Juristischen Methodenlehre, pp. 84-87. E.g., Haferkamp, Puchta, pp. 284292, 305-308. 249 However, the exact genealogy of the Begriffsjurisprudenzis disputed. See, e.g.,Wilhelm, Juristischen Methodenlehre, pp. 69-87 (starts with Puchta); Coing, Privatrecht 2, p. 47 (starts with Jhering);Wieacker, History, pp. 316-319 (starts with Puchta), however, p. 343, n 10 (does not start with Puchta); Schröder, Recht als Wissenschaft, pp. 270-271 (starts with Savigny or Puchta); Haferkamp, Puchta, pp. 470-471 (Exonerates Puchta).
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