- a school of economists that arose in Germany in the 19th century in reaction to the principles of the classical economists, and that maintained that the factors making up an economy are variable and develop out of social institutions.
- the school of jurists who maintain that law is not to be regarded so much as resulting from commands of sovereigns as from historical and social circumstances.
- a group of 19th-century German economists who maintained that modern economies evolved from historical institutions
- the school of jurists maintaining that laws are based on social and historical circumstances rather than made by a sovereign power
