of law.What is of central interest is the way in which the schools attempt to unite theory with practice, and explain the legitimacy of jurisprudential doctrine as a source of law. Is it at all possible for legal science to attain the status of law? Specific attention, however, must be paid to the doctrine critical Uppsala School’s own relationship to traditional doctrine and dogma. Did the Uppsala School accept traditional or conventional wisdom - that is, step into the same river? Or did the Uppsala School redirect the flow of the river, change its nature, and turn it into a canal? Regardless of which, what were the reasons behind its choice? At least since the days of the Historical School of Germany, if not before, the ultimate task of jurisprudence has been defined as a practical one.From the Swedish horizon, Professor ErnstViktor Nordling (18321898) will serve as areasonably typical advocate of this tradition. In1867 he defined the purpose of legal science in this way:”In its entirety the juridical science is nevertheless a practical science and therefore every branch of it ultimately must bear reference to the realization of law in life.”1 Even if we take Professor Nordling’s words for granted and render them into the dogma that legal science by definition constitutes a practical science, one must nevertheless still deal with the matters of how legal science turns practical, theory changes into praxis, and a descriptive activity becomes prescriptive. In other words, how do the principles of legal science become normative? According to Professor Nordling legal science becomes normative due to the fact that it indirectly as well as directly (on the one hand, by means of the study of legal history,legal philosophy and Roman law, and on the other, by study of the various branches of positive law) brings order - that is, accords structure and determinateness to the chaotic and formless matter that constitutes law. And it is ultimately through this process, according to Nordling, that legal science gains its normare cht swi s s e n scha f t al s j ur i st i sch e dok t r i n 160 1 ErnstViktor Nordling,“Om romerska rättens, juridiska encyclopediens och rättshistoriens betydelse för rätts-studiet,”Tidskrift för lagstiftning, lagskipning och förvaltning (Naumanns tidskrift, nt) 1867: p. 700. (My translation.) In Swedish: “Den juridiska vetenskapen är dock i sin helhet en praktisk vetenskap, och derför måste hvarje särskild gren inom honom ytterst hafva afseende på rättens förverkligande i lifvet.” 2 . t rad i t i onal doc t r i ne : th e p urp o s e of l e gal sc i e nc e
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