By the 14th century, development of Sunni jurisprudence prompted leading Sunni jurists to state that the main legal questions had been addressed and the scope of "ijtihad" was gradually restricted. In the modern era, this gave rise to a perception among Western scholars and lay Muslim public that the so-called "gate of "ijtihad"" was closed at the start of the classical era. While recent scholarship has disproven this notion, the extent and mechanisms of legal change in the post-formative period remain a subject of debate.