legal realism
legal realism, n. The theory that law is based, not on formal rules or principles, but instead on judicial decisions that should derive from social interests and public policy. • American legal realism — which flourished in the early 20th century — was espoused by such scholars as John Chipman Gray, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Karl Llewellyn. Cf. LEGAL FORMALISM. — legal realist, n.