Abstract
The descriptive and empirical national character studies supply an essential base for the prescriptive legal order which strives for justice and equity in shaping the ideal na tional character. Analytical or positive jurisprudence of John Austin, Wesley N. Hohfeld, and Hans Kelsen are seen to be related to the contributions of E. Adamson Hoebel, Pitirim A. Sorokin, Geoffrey Gorer, and others. Additionally, the histori cal or sociological jurisprudence of Friedrich Carl von Savigny, Eugen Ehrlich, Max Weber, and Max Rheinstein are seen to suggest concepts (such as Volksgeist), data, and theoretical frameworks useful in describing national legal character. Re lationships between legal mechanisms and national character, if better understood, may have an important bearing on legal institutional engineering. Hopefully, the jurisprudent will join with the behavioral scientist in the search for isomorphisms of data, concepts, and theory in the interdisciplinary study of national character.
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