Iurisprudentia est divinarum atque humanarum rerum notitia, iusti atque iniusti scientia

• Author: Raul Narits
• Position: Professor of Comparative Jurisprudence, University of Tartu. President of the Law Philosophy Society of Estonia
• Pages: 182-183

Raul Narits

Professor of Comparative Jurisprudence, University of Tartu

President of the Law Philosophy Society of Estonia

Iurisprudentia est divinarum

atque humanarum rerum notitia,

iusti atque iniusti scientia

On 11 November 1997, lawyers gathered at the newly opened building of the Faculty of Law of the University

of Tartu—Iuridicum, at Näituse 20—to establish the Estonian Society of Legal Philosophy. The founding

members of the society were T. Anepaio, L. Auväärt, J. Ginter, P. Kask, S. Kaugia, T. Kerikmäe, A. Kiris,

M. Kiviorg, I. Kull, L. Lehis, U. Liin, M. Luts, K. Merusk, M. Muda, R. Narits, V. Olle, I.-M. Orgo, P. Pruks,

M. Sillaots, J. Sootak, and G. Tavits. Two years later, our society became the f‌i rst in the Baltic region to be

accepted unanimously as a member of the International Association for Philosophy of Law and Social Phi-

losophy (hereinafter referred to as the IVR), at its World Congress in New York.

In New York, our application was mediated to the world organisation by Professor W. Krawietz. We

were the 45th national branch of the society. Professor Krawietz was also the f‌i rst one to notify us, writing

in his fax:

Lieber Herr Narits! Aus New-York zurück, kann ich Ihnen mitteilen, dass Ihr Antrag erfolgreich

abgewickelt wurde. Ich habe ihn (i) im Exekutivkommitee und (ii) im engeren Vorstand der IVR

vorgetragen. Hier- wie in der Generalversammlung des Weltkongresses der IVR, wo es von dem

amtierenden Weltpräsidenten Herrn Prof. Dr. Enrico Pattaro eingebracht wurde – wurde der

Antrag der Estnischen Sektion einstimmig angenommen. Sie sind seit 29. Juni 1999. Die 45. Sek-

tion im Rahmen der Welt-IVR (und die erste im Baltischen!). Gratuliere!

The 100th reporting meeting of the Estonian branch of the International Association for Philosophy of Law

and Social Philosophy was held on 10 May this year. Amid the jubilee atmosphere of this reporting meeting,

doctoral candidate of the Faculty of Law of the University of Tartu Ü. Vanaisak delivered a presentation

that touched upon the problem of how the rights of a minor subject to proceedings should be protected in

a state based on the rule of law. We have reached our 100th report meeting (there have been more reports

than this because sometimes more than one is made during a meeting) by gathering every second Tuesday

each month at 4:00 in the afternoon at Iuridicum. The interest in these reports has constantly been quite

high. It has been mainly interest in legal philosophical issues that has brought the listeners to these meet-

ings. It seems that people in the Faculty of Law of the University of Tartu do not share a certain scepticism

towards philosophy that says that in its never-ending search for goodness and justice the philosophy of law

careers into a situation in which human cognition has no solid anchor(s). It must be added that our report

meetings are not merely listening events. Each presentation is always followed by a debate carried by the

spirit of liberum arbitrium.

Both the selection of presenters and the subject matter has been broad and, of course, related to the

research and cognition interests of the presenters. Approximately a tenth of the presentations for our soci-

182 JURIDICA INTERNATIONAL XVIII/2011