The subject of my contribution is the cognition in the jurisprudence. It focuses on the question of the methods used in the jurisprudence to achieve knowledge of the law and the importance of the language in this process. My considerations focus on the evaluative position of the jurist. It is based on the assumption that the choice of a view requires not only an evaluation but also a kind of hierarchization. Therefore the important question is which evaluations are displaced by jurisprudence, and which ones creep into the theoretical considerations. The arguments on this topic have been drawn from three texts by German jurists of the 19th century.