Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T08:05:05.588Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Possibilities and Perils of Legal Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2014

Neil Sargent
Neil Sargent
Affiliation:
Department of Law, Carleton University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The paper explores the possibilities and perils of an interdisciplinary approach to legal studies emerging as an alternative intellectual paradigm to the doctrinal tradition within legal scholarship. The privileged status accorded to the doctrinal tradition within the legal academy is sustained by its continued importance in providing a link between law as a field of intellectual inquiry and law as a field of professional practice. Despite the promise of a more pluralistic intellectual climate within the legal academy, it seems unlikely that an interdisciplinary approach to legal studies will succeed in challenging the preeminence of legal doctrine as the primary source of professional-knowledge claims about law. At the same time, however, any attempt to claim legal studies as a separate field of intellectual inquiry outside the legal academy confronts many of the same doubts about the nature of law as a unitary object of knowledge as the doctrinal tradition from which it seeks to distance itself. The paradox of the legal studies project is that whenever it tries to free itself from the embrace of the doctrinal tradition, it confronts epistemological doubts about the conditions for its own existence. It appears, therefore, that the legal studies project is destined to continue its labours in the shadow of the law.

Résumé

L'auteur examine ici, les possibilités et les risques d'une approche interdisciplinaire de l'analyse critique du droit comme paradigme intellectuel alternatif à la tradition doctrinale au sein de la réflexion juridique. Le statut privilégié accordé à la tradition doctrinale dans les facultés de droit est soutenu par l'importance persistante du lien qu'elle établit entre le droit comme champ d'investigation intellectuelle et le droit comme champ professionnel. Malgré la promesse d'un climat intellectuel plus pluraliste à l'intérieur des facultés de droit, il semble que l'approche inlerdisciplinaire de l'analyse critique du droit ait très peu de chances de remplacer la doctrine comme source première de l'acquisition des connaissances professionnelles en droit. Cependant, toute tentative visant à considérer l'analyse critique du droit comme un champ d'investigation intellectuelle indépendant des facultés de droit soulèvera un grand nombre de questions concernant la nature du droit considéré comme objet de savoir unitaire par la tradition doctrinale dont elle cherche à se distancier. Le paradoxe du projet d'analyse critique du droit réside dans le fait qu' à chaque fois que l'on essaie de le détacher de la tradition doctrinale, on le confronte à des doutes épistémologiques reliés aux conditions de sa propre existence. Il semble donc que les travaux du projet d'analyse critique du droit soient condamnés à se poursuivre dans l'ombre du droit.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Law and Society / La Revue Canadienne Droit et Société , Volume 6 , 1991 , pp. 1 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Law and Society Association 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abel, R., “Redirecting Social Studies of Law,” Law and Society Review 14 (1980), p. 805.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arthurs, H.W., “The Law School in a University Setting,” in Matas, R.J. and McCawley, D. (eds.), Legal Education in Canada (Montreal: Federation of Law Societies of Canada, 1987).Google Scholar
Barnes, J., “The Department of Law, Carleton University, Ottawa,” Dalhousie Law Journal 3 (1971), p. 814.Google Scholar
Bartholomew, A. and Boyd, S., “The Political Economy of Law,” in Clement, W. and Williams, G. (eds.), The New Canadian Political Economy (Kingston: McGill-Queen's Press, 1988).Google Scholar
Bok, D., “A Flawed System of Law Practice and Training,” Journal of Legal Education 33 (1983), p. 570.Google Scholar
Bordieu, P., (1987) “The Force of Law: Toward a Sociology of the Juridical Field,” Hastings Law Journal 38 (1987), p. 814.Google Scholar
Boyd, S., “Editorial: Teaching Policy Issues in Family Law,” Canadian Journal of Family Law 8 (1989), p. 11.Google Scholar
Brigham, J. and Harrington, C., “Realism and its Consequences: An Inquiry into Contemporary Sociological Research,” International Journal of Sociology of Law 17 (1989), p. 41.Google Scholar
Campbell, R.L., “Law as a Social Science,” Dalhousie Law Journal 9 (1985), p. 404.Google Scholar
Carrington, P., “Of Law and the River,” Journal of Legal Education 34 (1984), p. 222.Google Scholar
Carty, A. and Mair, J., “Some Post-Modern Perspectives on Law and Society,” Journal of Law and Society 1 (1990), p. 395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cassels, J. and Maloney, M., “Critical Legal Education: Paralysis with a Purpose,” Canadian Journal of Law and Society 4 (1989), p. 99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cotterrell, R., “The Sociological Concept of Law,” Journal of Law and Society 10 (1984), p. 241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cotterrell, R., “Law and Sociology: Notes on the Constitution and Confrontations of Disciplines,” Journal of Law and Society 13 (1986), p. 9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cromwell, T.A., “In the Matter of an Arbitration Between the Union of Doctrinal and Theoretical Legal Scholars and the Consultative Group on Research and Education in Law,” Osgoode Hall Law Journal 22 (1984), p. 761.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engel, D.M. and Yngvesson, B., “Mapping Difficult Terrain: ‘Legal Culture’, ‘Legal Consciousness,’ and Other Hazards for the Intrepid Explorer,” Law and Policy 6 (1984), p. 299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitzpatrick, P., “Law and Societies,” Osgoode Hall Law Journal 22 (1984), p. 115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foucault, M., The Archeology of Knowledge (London: Routledge, 1972).Google Scholar
Friedman, L., “Symposium on the Future of Law and Social Sciences Research,” North Carolina Law Review 52 (1974), p. 1068.Google Scholar
Friedman, L., “The Law and Society Movement,” Stanford Law Review 38 (1986), p. 763.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galanter, M., “Symposium on The Future of Law and Social Sciences Research,” North Carolina Law Review 52 (1974), p. 1060.Google Scholar
Glasbeek, H. and Hasson, R., “Some Reflections on Canadian Legal Education,” Modern Law Review 50 (1987), p. 777.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodrich, P., Reading the Law (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986).Google Scholar
Gordon, R., “Book Review. The Death of Contract by Grant Gilmore,” Wisconsin Law Review (1974), p. 1216.Google Scholar
Griffiths, J., “Is Law Important?” New York University Law Review 54 (1979), p. 339.Google Scholar
Hagan, J., “The New Legal Scholarship: Problems and Prospects,” Canadian Journal of Law and Society 1 (1986), p. 35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, A.J., The Sociological Movement in Law (London: MacMillan Press, 1978).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, A.J., “The Big Fear: Law Confronts Postmodernism,” McGill Law Journal 35 (1990), p. 507.Google Scholar
Hutchinson, A. and Monahan, P., “Law, Politics, and the Unfolding Drama of American Legal Thought,” Stanford Law Review 36 (1984), p. 199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Los, M., “Law from a Phenomenological Perspective,” in Podgorecki, A. and Whelan, C. (eds.), Sociological Approaches to Law (London: Croom Helm, 1981).Google Scholar
Macaulay, S., “Elegant Models, Empirical Pictures, and the Complexities of Contract,” Law and Society Review 11 (1977), p. 507.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macaulay, S., “Law and the Behavioural Sciences: Is There any There There?” Law and Policy 6 (1984), p. 149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKinnon, C., “Feminism, Marxism, method and the state: an agenda for theory,” Signs 7 (1982), p. 515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDowell, L., “Is U. of C. Law School Ahead of its Time or a Failed Experiment?” Canadian Lawyer (October, 1988), p. 10.Google Scholar
McIntyre, S., “Gender Bias Within the Law School: The Memo and its Impact,” Canadian Journal of Women and the Law 2 (1987/1988), p. 362.Google Scholar
McLaren, J.P.S., “The History of Legal Education in Common Law Canada,” in Matas, R.J. and McCawley, D. (eds.), Legal Education in Canada (Montreal: Federation of Law Societies of Canada, 1987).Google Scholar
Menkel-Meadow, C., “Portia in a Different Voice: Speculations on a Woman's Lawyering Process,” Berkeley Women's Law Journal 1 (1985), p. 39.Google Scholar
Mohr, J.W., “Law and Learning Revisited: Discourse, Theory and Research” Osgoode Hall Law Journal 25 (1987), p. 671.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munger, F. and Seron, C., “Critical Legal Studies versus Critical Legal Theory: A Comment on Method,” Law and Policy 6 (1987), p. 257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, W.T. and Roberts, S., “Introduction,” Modern Law Review 50 (1987), p. 677.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelken, D., “Review Essay: Beyond the Study of ‘Law and Society?’ Henry's Private Justice and O'Hagan's The End of Law?” American Bar Foundation Research Journal 2 (1986), p. 323.Google Scholar
O'Donovan, K., Sexual Divisions in Law (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985).Google Scholar
Peller, G., “The Metaphysics of American Law,” California Law Review 73 (1985), p. 1151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, P.H., “Overcoming Legal Formalism: The Treatment of the Constitution, the Courts and Judicial Behaviour in Canadian Political Science,” Canadian Journal of Law and Society 1 (1986), p. 5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, J.P., “Undergraduate Programs of Legal Studies, Law and Society, etc.: An Overview and a Tabular Summary,” (American Bar Association, Commission on College and University Nonprofessional Legal Studies, 1986).Google Scholar
Santos, B., “Law: A Map of Misreading: Toward a Postmodern Conception of Law,” Journal of Law and Society 14 (1987), p. 279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sarat, A., “Legal Effectiveness and Social Studies of Law: On the Unfortunate Persistance of a Research Tradition,” Legal Studies Forum 9 (1985), p. 23.Google Scholar
Schlegel, J.H., “American Legal Realism and Empirical Social Science: From the Yale Experience,” Buffalo Law Review 28 (1979), p. 459.Google Scholar
Schlegel, J.H., “Between the Harvard Founders and the American Legal Realists: The Professional ization of the American Law Professor,” Journal of Legal Education 35 (1985), p. 311.Google Scholar
Silbey, S. and Sarat, A., “Critical Traditions in Law and Society Research,” Law and Society Review 21 (1987), p. 165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smart, C., Feminism and the Power of Law (London: Routledge, 1990).Google Scholar
Soberman, D.A., “Law and Learning: Report to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada,” Queen's Law Journal 10 (1984), p. 235.Google Scholar
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Law and Learning: Report of the Consultative Group on Research and Education in Law (Ottawa: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 1984).Google Scholar
Stevens, R., Law School: Legal Education from the 1850's to the 1980's (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1983).Google Scholar
Sugarman, D., “‘A Hatred of Disorder’: Legal science, Liberalism and Imperialism”, in Fitzpatrick, P. (ed.) Dangerous Supplements: Resistance and Renewal in Jurisprudence (London: Pluto Press, 1991).Google Scholar
Thompson, E.P., Whigs and Hunters (London: Allen Lane, 1985).Google Scholar
Tushnet, M., “Post-Realist Legal Scholarship,” Journal of the Society of Public Teachers of Law 15 (1982), p. 20.Google Scholar
Twining, W., Karl Llewellyn and the Realist Movement (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1973).Google Scholar
Weisberg, M., “On the Relation of Law and Learning to Law and Learning” McGill Law Journal 29 (1983), p. 155.Google Scholar
Williams, J.C., “Critical Legal Studies: The Death of Transcendence and the Rise of the New Langdells,” New York University Law Review 62 (1987), p. 429.Google Scholar