historical school

American  

noun

1. a school of economists that arose in Germany in the 19th century in reaction to the principles of the classical economists, and that maintained that the factors making up an economy are variable and develop out of social institutions.

2. Law. the school of jurists who maintain that law is not to be regarded so much as resulting from commands of sovereigns as from historical and social circumstances.

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historical school British  

noun

1. a group of 19th-century German economists who maintained that modern economies evolved from historical institutions

2. the school of jurists maintaining that laws are based on social and historical circumstances rather than made by a sovereign power

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Etymology

Origin of historical school

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

Since the predominance of the historical school, one is accustomed to look upon the doctrines of a natural law as impossible dreaming.

From The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens by Farrand, Max

Yet we must reluctantly admit that Thackeray has passed his climacteric, and that as a work of the historical school this book cannot claim parity with Esmond.

From Studies in Literature and History by Miller, John O.

Instead of pursuing a pure abstraction, this historical school has confined itself to the knowledge of the life of man and the evolution of society.

From Principles Of Political Economy by Lalor, John J. (John Joseph)

Clarence Glyndon shuts himself up to grind colours and paint pictures in the grand historical school, which nobody buys.

From Zanoni by Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron

Where there were no codes, the hegemony of the historical school led to a movement back to the law of Justinian which would have undone much of the progress of the last centuries.

From An Introduction to the Philosophy of Law by Pound, Roscoe