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The development of socio-legal studies in the United Kingdom1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

D. R. Harris
D. R. Harris*
Affiliation:
Centre for Socio-Legal Studies; Balliol College, Oxford
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Extract

There is no agreed definition of socio-legal studies: some use the term broadly to cover the study of law in its social context, but I prefer to use it to refer to the study of the law and legal institutions from the perspectives of the social sciences (viz all the social sciences – not only sociology). The last decade has seen many developments in this enterprise. Many younger academic lawyers became dissatisfied with the traditional type of legal scholarship, which concentrated on the internal consistency of the law and the inter-relationship of different legal rules. They showed great interest in studying the realities of the law in action, the social effects of law and the relationship of law to wider questions of social structure, and naturally turned to the social sciences for assistance.

Type
Research Article
Information
Legal Studies , Volume 3 , Issue 3 , November 1983 , pp. 315 - 333
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Legal Scholars 1983

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Footnotes

1

I must record my indebtedness to the staff of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford, who have provided much of the material for this survey.

References

2. For an earlier assessment, see Campbell, and Wiles, ‘The Study of Law in Society in Britain’ 11 Law and Society Review 547 Google Scholar.

3. McBarnet, ‘False Dichotomies in Criminal Justice Research’, in Baldwin, and Bottomley, Criminal Justice (1978)Google Scholar.

4. For example, Cain, Society and the Policeman's Role (1973)Google Scholar; Carlen, Magistrates' Justice (1976)Google Scholar; Hall, et al Policing the Crisis (1978)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; McBarnet, Conviction: Law, the State and the Construction of Justice (1981)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5. Whigs and Hunters (1975).

6. Albion's Fatal Tree (1975). Some of the themes (along with Foucault's) were taken up in a joint conference by the NDC/CSE which resulted in a book, Fine et al (ed) Capitalism and the Rule of Law (1979).

7. Atkinson, and Drew, Order in Court (1979)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8. The book of the Conference is Fryer, Hunt, McBarnet and Moorhouse Law, State and Society (1981).

9. Illustrations of this type of book are Law and Society in England by Roshier and Teff (1980); Sociological Approaches to Law, edited by Podgorecki and Whelan; Grace, and Wilkinson, Sociological Inquiry and Legal Phenoma (1978)Google Scholar.

10. Carlen, (ed) The Sociology of Law (1977)Google Scholar; Fryer, Hunt, McBarnet and Moorhouse Law, State and Society (1981); Campbell, and Wiles, Law and Society: Readings in the Sociology of Low (1981)Google Scholar; Bankowski, and Mungham, Essays in Law and Society (1981)Google Scholar; Fitzgerald, et al Crime and Society (1981)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11. See, for example, Hunt The Sociological Movement in Law (1978).

12. Lukes, S. Durkheim and the Law (1983)Google Scholar.

13. General introductions to this theme include Cain and Hunt Marx and Engels on Law (1979); and Collins, Marxism and the Law (1982)Google Scholar. Also see the introduction to Fryer et al LaW, State and Society for a discussion of why this is the case.

14. Run by Sol Picciotto at Warwick.

15. See, for example, McBarnet Conviction: Law, the State and the Construction of Justice (1981); Carson, The Other Price of Britain's Oil (1981)Google Scholar.

16. See especially Skolnick, Justice Without Trial (1966)Google Scholar; Cicourel, The Social Organization of Juvenile Justice (1968)Google Scholar; Ross, Settled out of court (1970)Google Scholar.

17. The Centre does not undertake research in fields which are central to other research institutes in Britain, such as industrial relations, ethnic relations and criminology.

18. For example Abel-Smith, and Stevens, Lawyers and the Courts: A Sociological Study of the English Legal System (1967)Google Scholar.

19. For example, Carlen, Magistrates' Justice (1976)Google Scholar; McBarnet, Conviction: Law, the State and the Construction of Justice (1981)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

20. Barrington-Baker, et al The Matrimonial Jurisdiction of Registrars (1977, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford)Google Scholar

21. Paterson, The Law Lords (1982)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

22. The full transcripts of these interviews are deposited in the Bodleian Library, awaiting the expiry of the 25 years' embargo of their publication upon which their Lordships insisted.

23. The latest is a study of the role of barristers' clerks: Flood Barristers' Clerks: The Law's Middle Men (1983).

24. The role of lawyers in the criminal process is outside the scope of this paper.

25. Murch, 40 MLR 625 (1977).

26. Dingwall et al The Protection of Children (1983).

27. Podmore Solicitors and the Wider Community (1980).

28. The Royal Commission on Legal Services (1981) commissioned research on the profession and generated much socio-legal activity: see, e.g. Thomas (ed) Law in the Balance: Legal Services in the Eighties (1981).

29. For example Bridges et al Legal Services in Birmingham (1975).

30. Abel-Smith, Zander and Brooke Legal Problem and the Citizen (1973); Morris, White and Lewis Social Needs and Legal Action (1973); Byles and Morris Unmet Need: The Case of the Neighbourhood Law Centre (1977); Zander Legal Services for the Community (1978); Grace and Wilkinson Negotiating the Law: Social Work and Legal Services (1978).

31. See below, p. 326.

32. Dingwall and Lewis The Sociology of the Professions: Lawyers, Doctors and Others (1983). (This volume also reports empirical material, e.g. Cain on solicitor/client relationships; Murray et al on local government solicitors).

33. More extensive coverage of work in this area is provided in Wilkinson Bibliography on the Social Organisation of Disputes and Dispute Processing, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford Bibliography No. 1 and Supplement (1980).

34. See, for example, Gluckman The Judicial Process Among the Barotse of Northern Rhodesia (1955).

35. See, for example, Hood Sentencing in Magistrates' Courts (1962); McCabe and Purves By-passing the Jury (1972); Bottoms and McClean Defendants in the Criminal Process (1976); Baldwin and McConville Jury Trials (1979).

36. Carlen Magistrates' justice (1976); Atkinson Discovering Suicide (1978); McBarnet Conviction (1981). Other studies have monitored innovations in resolving minor disputes, e.g. Appleby Small Claim in England and Wales (1978, Institute of Judicial Administration, Birmingham University).

37. See, for example, Atkinson and Drew Order in Court: The Organisation of Verbal Interaction in judicial Settings (1979).

38. Atkinson and Drew op. cit. (1979); Atkinson, ‘Ethnomethodological Approaches to Socio-Legal Studies’, in Podgorecki and Whelan, Sociological Approaches to Law (1981); Pomerantz and Atkinson, ‘Ethnomethodology, Conversation Analysis and the Study of Courtroom Interaction’, in Müller, Blackman and Chapman Topics in Psychology and Law (1983).

39. Danet, ‘Language in the Legal Process’ 14 Law and Society Review 445 (1980)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Levi, Linguistics, Language and Law: A Topical Bibliography (1982, Indiana University Linguistics Club)Google Scholar.

40. See, for example, O'Barr Linguistic Evidence: Language, Power and Strategy in the Courtroom (1982).

41. For example, McGregor, Blom-Cooper and Gibson Separated Spouses (1970).

42. Cmnd. 5629.

43. Baker, Barrington et al The Matrimonial Jurisdiction of Registrars (1977, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford)Google Scholar.

44. Eekelaar, and Clive, Custody After Divorce (1977, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford)Google Scholar.

45. Murch Justice and Welfare in Divorce (1980).

46. Maidment, Judicial Separation (1982, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies)Google Scholar. This study also covered a small survey of solicitors with a matrimonial practice.

47. Eekelaar, and Maclean, Children and Divorce: Economic Factors (1983, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies)Google Scholar.

48. Eekelaar, and Maclean, ‘Financial Provisions on Divorce: A Reappraisal’ (paper to the Hart Legal Workshop, 1983)Google Scholar.

49. Masson, et al Yours, Mine and Ours (1983, forthcoming, HMSO)Google Scholar.

50. Dingwall, Eekelaar and Murray The Protection of Children: State Intervention and Family Life (1983).

51. Another current project at the Oxford Centre is an attempt to evaluate different models of conciliation with particular reference to the individual and social acceptability of the outcomes. In collaboration with the MRC 1946 birth cohort study, based in Bristol, the Centre is also developing work on the intergenerational impact of divorce.

52. For example, Eekelaar Family Law and Social Policy (1978); Cretney Principles of Family Law (2ndedn, 1981); Hoggett and Pearl The Family, Low and Society: Cares and Materials (1983).

53. Carson ‘White Collar Crime and the Enforcement of Factory Legislation’ in Carson and Wiles (eds) Crime and Delinquency in Britain (1970); Carson, ‘Symbolic and Instrumental Dimensions of Early Factory Legislation’ in Hood et al (ed) Crime, Criminology and Public Policy (1974).

54. The Other Price of Britain's Oil (1981).

55. See below, note 99, p. 332.

56. Gunningham Pollution, Social Interest and the Law (1974); Paulus The Search for Pure Food (1974).

57. Regulating Business: Law and Consumer Agencies (1979).

58. The Other Price of Britain's Oil (1981).

59. Richardson, with Ogus and Burrows Policing Pollution: A Study of Regulation and Enforcement (1983).

60. Environment and Enforcement: Regulation and the Social Definition of Pollution (forthcoming).

61. For example, Hadden Company Law and Capitalism (1970, and later editions); Atiyah The Rise and Fall of Freedom of Contract (1979).

64. 28 Amer Socio Rev 55 (1963).

63. Beak and Dugdale 2 Brit J Law & Soc 45 (1975).

64. Accidents, Compensation and the Law (1970, and later editions).

65. Report on Civil Liability and Compensation for Personal Injury 1978, Cmnd. 7054. (The surveys are reported in Vol. 2.)

66. The methodology used is reported in Maclean and Genn Methodological Issues in Social Surveys (1979).

67. Harris et al Compensation and Support for Illness and Injury (in the Press).

68. Follow-up studies nearing completion cover the economics of compensation for disability, and a study of the process by which settlements are reached. (This project is based on interviews with barristers, solicitors and insurance company claims negotiators; observation of face-to-face negotiation; and by questionnaires completed by 130 solicitors undertaking personal injury work.) Another follow-up study is Genn Meeting Legal Needs? An Evaluation of a Scheme for Personal Injury Victims (1982, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies).

69. A good overview of the US development is the Symposium on the Place of Economics in Legal Education, 33 J Leg Educ 183 (1983).

70. Veljanovski The New Law-and-Economics: A Research Review (1983), published by the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies. (See also 7 Brit J Law and Soc 158.)

71. Veljanovski Bibliography in Law and Economics No. 1, Contract Analysis; No. 2, Legal Liability and Negligence (1979), Centre for Socio-Legal Studies.

72. Burrows and Veljanovski The Economic Approach to Low (1981). Another British teaching text will appear in 1984: Ogus and Veljanovski Readings in the Economics of Law and Regulation.

73. For example Bowles Law and the Economy (1983).

74. See below, notes 78–81.

75. 2nd edn (1977). Posner was formerly a Professor at the Chicago University Law School, but is now a judge in a Federal Court of Appeals.

76. For example, Professor Oliver Williamson, formerly of the University of Pennsylvania, but now of Yale.

77. Most of these partnerships have begun at the Oxford Centre.

78. For example, Phillips and Hawkins, 39 MLR 497 (tort: personal injuries); Ogus and Richardson, 36 CLJ 284 (tort of nuisance); Fenn and Whelan, 2 Int Rev Law & Econ 205 (employment); Veljanovski and Whelan, 46 MLR (professional negligence).

79. Harris, Ogus and Phillips, 95 LQR 581 (remedies); Harris and Veljanovski, 5 Law and Policy Quarterly 97 (1983) (out-of-court settlements).

80. Bowles and Whelan, 25 McGill LJ 236 (1979) (damages) and ch. II in Burrows and Veljanovski The Economic Approach to Law (1981), (judicial responses to exchange rate instability); 44 MLR 702; 1 Inter Rev Law & Econ III (interest). Their contribution to English and Canadian debates on the problems of foreign money obligations have appeared respectively in 45 MLR 434 and 60 Canadian Bar Rev 805.

81. For example, William Bishop of the LSE: see 96 LQR 360 (1980).

82. Discussed above, p. 326. See the reference in note 67.

83. A general review of the field may be found in Lloyd-Bostock, 8 Brit J Law & Soc 1 (1981).

84. Considerable research was conducted for the Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure (1981).

85. Finance for these conferences has been provided by the Social Sciences and Law Committee of the Social Science Research Council.

86. The books are cited below in notes 87, 88, 90–92.

87. Psychology, Low and Legal Processes (1979), edited by Farrington, Hawkins and Lloyd-Bostock.

88. Psychology in Legal Contexts: Applications and Limitations (1981) edited by Lloyd-Bostock.

89. Ibid.

90. See also King (ed) Childhood, Welfare and Justice (1981); Lloyd-Bostock (ed) Children and the Law (forthcoming, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies).

91. Law and Psychology (1981) edited by Lloyd-Bostock, and published by the Oxford Centre.

94. Evaluating Witness Evidence: Recent Psychological Research and New Perspectives (1983) edited by Lloyd-Bostock and Clifford.

93. History Of English Law (1903–1966) 16 vols.

94. Law and Public Opinion in England (1905).

95. Sir Leon Radzinowicz A History of English Criminal Law and its Administration from 1750 (1948–1966) 4 vols; Cornish et al Crime and Law in Nineteenth Century Britain (1978); Bailey Policing and Punishment in Nineteenth Century Britain (1981). See also the references in notes 5 and 6, p. 318 above.

96. Harding A Social History of English Law (1966); Offer Property and Politics 1870–1914 (1981).

97. Abel-Smith and Stevens Lawyers and the Courts: A Sociological Study of the English Legal System (1967); Offer op. cit.

98. Bartrip, and Burman, The Wounded Soldiers of Industry: Industrial Compensation Policy 1833–97 (1983)Google Scholar. (Bartrip is now researching the twentieth-century history of workmen's compensation up to 1948.)

99. Bartrip Saftey at Work: The Factory Inspectorate in the Fencing Controversy 1833–57 (Working Paper No. 4 (1979), Centre for Socio-Legal Studies); Bartrip and Fenn ‘The Administration of Safety: the Enforcement Policy of the Early Factory Inspectorate, 1844–1864’ 58 Public Administration 87 (1980) and ‘The Conventionalization of Factory Crime: a Reassessment’ 8 International Journal of the Sociology of Law 175 (1980); Bartrip ‘The State and the Steam Boiler in Nineteenth Century Britain’ 25 International Review of Social History 77 (1980) and ‘British Government Inspection, 1832–1875. Some Observations’, 25 Historical Journal 605 (1982).

100. McGregor Social History and Law Reform (1981).

101. A review of the field by Snyder is found in 8 Brit J Law & Society 141 (1981).

102. See, for instance, Harnnett (ed) Social Anthropalogy and Law (1977); Roberts, Order and Dispute: An Introduction to Legal Anthropology (1979); some of the contributions to Burman and Harrell-Bond (eds) The Imposition of Law (1979); Fitzpatrick Law and State in Papua New Guinea (1980); Snyder Capitalism and Legal Change: An African Transformation (1981); Comaroff and Roberts Rules and Processes: The Cultural Logic of Dispute in an African Context (1981).

103. Malinowski Crime and Custom in Savage Society (1926).

104. For example, Fortes and Evans-Pritchard African Political Systems (1940); Middleton and Tait Tribes Without Rulers (1958); and, of course, Gluckman The Judicial Process among The Barotse (1955).

105. For example, Paterson The Law Lords (1982).

106. See Lewis ‘IBA Programme Contract Awards’ [1975] Public Law 317; Baldwin, ‘A Quango Unleashed: The Abolition of Policy Lines in Civil Aviation Licensing’ [1980] Public Administration 287.

107. For example, Cain Society and the Policeman's Role (1973); Reiner The Blue Coated Worker (1978).

108. McBarnet Conviction: Law, The State and the Construction of justice (1981).

109. Baldwin and Kinsey Police Powers and Politics (1982).

110. Taylor Law and Order: Arguments for Socialism (1981).