Question:medium

According to Realists:

Updated On: Jul 13, 2026
  • Custom is real law
  • Precedent is real law
  • Statute is real law
  • Rule is real law
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The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

Legal Realism grew out of dissatisfaction with formalist jurisprudence, the idea that judges simply apply fixed rules mechanically to reach predictable outcomes. Realists argued this picture was misleading, and this question is testing what they proposed instead as the true measure of law.

  1. Custom is real law: customary practice is a recognised source of law in various theories, but it is not the specific focus of the Realist critique, which is centred on courts and judicial behaviour.
  2. Precedent is real law: Realists, echoing Holmes's idea that law is a prediction of what courts will actually do, hold that the decisions courts actually reach, case by case, matter more than the text of a stated rule. Since precedent is the accumulated record of what courts have actually decided, Realists treat precedent as the real, operative law rather than the formal rule on the books.
  3. Statute is real law: this reflects the formalist position, that the enacted text itself is binding and self applying, which is the very assumption Realism pushes back against.
  4. Rule is real law: also a formalist leaning position, treating an abstract stated rule as decisive, again the kind of paper rule focus Realists distrust in favour of studying actual judicial outcomes.

Let's summarize:

  • Formalists treat statutes and stated rules as the real law.
  • Realists instead focus on what courts actually decide, treating precedent as the operative law.

According to the Realists, precedent is real law.

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