juridischwetenschappelijke

Juridisch weten is a term used in Dutch-language scholarship to describe knowledge about the law—the sources, concepts, and reasoning by which legal rules are identified, interpreted, and applied. The phrase is not uniformly defined but is often used to distinguish epistemological questions about law from purely normative or prescriptive concerns. In a broad sense, juridisch weten encompasses legal doctrine, jurisprudence, and the methods by which legal information is produced and validated, including linguistic analysis, textual interpretation, and comparative study.

Its scope includes the primary sources of law (constitutions, statutes, regulations, case law), as well as secondary sources such as doctrinal writings, commentaries, and legal encyclopedias. It also covers interpretive approaches (textual, purposive, systemic) and the social functions of law, such as resolving disputes, shaping behavior, and organizing institutions. The field intersects with legal theory, philosophy of law, information science, and computational law, reflecting both normative aims and empirical inquiry.

Scholars in juridisch weten examine how legal knowledge is obtained, justified, and communicated to practitioners and the public. Methodologically, work ranges from doctrinal analysis and comparative law to empirical legal studies, epistemology, and, increasingly, legal informatics and AI-assisted reasoning. Challenges include jurisdictional diversity, evolving statutes, access to reliable information, and ensuring transparency in automated legal tools.

See also: jurisprudence, legal theory, epistemology, legal informatics.