In 1848, a thin book appeared with the provocative-sounding title: Die Wertlosigkeit der Jurisprudenz als Wissenschaft [The worthlessness of jurisprudence as a science]. The author was the well-known lawyer Julius Hermann von Kirchmann.[01] In this work, he analysed the part played by jurisprudence in improving the practice of law and arrived at a conclusion that did not go down very well with lawyers. In order to allay any suspicions that he was trying to start a futile dispute, he began his exposition with the following sentence: "The subject of my paper today might easily lead some to suspect that I am only interested in a piquant sentence, with no concern for the deeper truth of the matter." [01]