This article contributes to a growing body of literature on special jurisprudence through a case study of energy law as an emergent area of law that is perceived to lack a clear understanding of its definition, foundations and doctrine. The article has two functions that both seek to integrate the literature on special (as opposed to general) jurisprudence with that on energy law as a legal discipline and an independent area of law. The first is to explain why the lack of a doctrine is a problem for a field like energy law, thus motivating the creation of a special jurisprudence. The second is to outline how the foundations of the discipline could be deliberatively developed in a meaningful and methodologically justified way.