台灣於戰後所形成的第一代法學者，大多數係屬於外省族群而承襲中國從清末到民國時代的法學發展經驗，少數屬於本省人者則接續因經歷日治時期而擁有的戰前日本法學經驗。於1950年代乃至1960年代，因民國時代中國所產出的法學論著在台灣難得一見，第一代法學者經常靠上課講義所集成的教科書，傳授法學知識。此時的法學內涵以關於中華民國法條的釋義為主，但第一代法學者不問族群或職業背景，均相當受戰前日本法學的影響。 1960年代中期以後，學院內的第二代法學者逐漸帶回歐陸與日本等國傾向於自由民主的法學內涵。其經常將外國法制及其法釋義等視為具有普世的「先進」性，並期待國內法跟進，惟亦有學者認為可超越繼受母國學說，來尋求台灣社會最適的法制。於1980年代中期之後，再加入了第三代法學者。就在1987年解嚴後，自由開放的風氣使法學呈現前所未有的活潑與多元。法學者不再僅限於對既有法規範為註釋，而已強化其立法論上研究，甚或積極主導立法；且和其他學門的合作與對話逐漸增多，學術表達方式也呈現多樣化。 於2000年代，再加入曾受教於第三代法學者的新興第四代法學者，台灣的法學界已走出單純的繼受外國法學理論的巢臼，而採取多源且多元的研究途徑。累積數個世代之努力的台灣法學，於今已嘗試向國際發聲，或表述台灣的法律經驗，或進行普世性法律議題的探究；而與國際的學術交流將使台灣法學者再省視在地的法律實踐，進而使台灣法學更貼近台灣人民的需求。

The majority of the first generation of legal scholars in Taiwan during the post-war period was those people who came from Mainland China, experiencing the development of legal science in late Qing and Republican China. The minority of them was those people who were native Taiwan and understood the legal science of pre-war Japan during the Japanese colonial period. In the 1950s and 1960s, the first generation of legal scholars usually spread legal knowledge through the textbooks which recorded the lecture in the classroom because legal publications of Republican China were seldom found in Taiwan. The contents of Taiwan’s legal science then were largely the statutory interpretation of the ROC laws; however, these legal scholars, regardless of their ethnic or occupation background, were considerably influenced by pre-war Japanese legal science. After the mid-1960s, the second generation of legal scholars who were teachers in law schools brought liberal and democratic jurisprudence existing in Europe or Japan to Taiwan. They always regarded foreign legal institutions and legal interpretation as advanced universally and expected domestic laws to follow them. Some of these legal scholars, however, considered that it was better to surpass the foreign legal theories for the purpose of meeting the need of native society. In the mid-1980s, the third generation of legal scholars emerged. After lifting the martial law in 1987, Taiwan’s legal science became more open, active and diverse than before. Taiwan’s legal scholars paid more attention to the reform in legislation and sometimes played a leading role in reforming the law. In addition, they had begun to cooperate with those scholars who were trained by non-legal disciplines and to publish their academic works in adverse styles. In the 2000s, the fourth generation of legal scholars emerged. Taiwan’s legal scholars have not merely received foreign legal theories any more, but take many approaches of legal study with diversity from different sources. Today’s Taiwan legal scholars have tried to utter their voices in international community, sharing their opinion on the legal issues around the world. This international dialogue will urge Taiwan’s legal scholars to seriously re-evaluate their own legal administration and thus make more contributions to the legal lives of Taiwan’s people.