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

This is a view which very rightly meets with small mercy at the hands of the modern historical school of criticism.

From Pastoral Poetry and Pastoral Drama A Literary Inquiry, with Special Reference to the Pre-Restoration Stage in England by Greg, Walter W.

This idea, held in one form or another by the historical school, divided the allegiance of jurists with the theory of law as command of the sovereign during almost the whole of the past century.

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

At Cambridge his influence at once made itself felt, especially in the reorganization of the historical school.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 6 "Coucy-le-Château" to "Crocodile" by Various

This assumption, however, has been made quite impossible, not by the historical school, but by the criticism and analysis of economists in the direct line of the Ricardian succession.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 10 "Echinoderma" to "Edward" by Various

He had recently come from Germany, where he had imbibed what was supposed to be a new gospel in economics, and he now appeared as the evangelist of what was termed the historical school.

From The Reminiscences of an Astronomer by Newcomb, Simon