Textbook On Legal Methods Legal Systems Research

Until quite recently questions about methodology in legal research have been largely confined to understanding the role of doctrinal research as a scholarly discipline. In turn this has involved asking questions not only about coverage but, fundamentally, questions about the identity of the discipline. Is it (mainly) descriptive, hermeneutical, or normative? Should it also be explanatory? Legal scholarship has been torn between, on the one hand, grasping the expanding reality of law and its context, and, on the other, reducing this complex whole to manageable proportions. The purely internal analysis of a legal system, isolated from any societal context, remains an option, and is still seen in the approach of the French academy, but as law aims at ordering society and influencing human behaviour, this approach is felt by many scholars to be insufficient. Consequently many attempts have been made to conceive legal research differently. Social scientific and comparative approaches have proven fruitful. However, does the introduction of other approaches leave merely a residue of 'legal doctrine', to which pockets of social sciences can be added, or should legal doctrine be merged with the social sciences? What would such a broad interdisciplinary field look like and what would its methods be? This book is an attempt to answer some of these questions.

Includes new developments, gives emphasis to questions of professional responsibility, and a chapter on the criminal justice system. Also contains sections on materials and methods of the study of law, the anatomy of a legal dispute, analysis and synthesis of judicial decisions, and interpretation of statutes.

Written by Ernst Hirsch Ballin, this original Advanced Introduction uncovers the foundations of legal research methods, an area of legal scholarship distinctly lacking in standardisation. The author shows how such methods differ along critical, empirical, and fundamental lines, and how our understanding of these is crucial to overcoming crises and restoring trust in the law. Key topics include a consideration of law as a normative language and an examination of the common objects of legal research.

A New Introduction to Legal Method provides a comprehensive overview of legal science and the scientific character of legal knowledge. In five chapters, the book analyses and explores: (i) legal methodology in general, the main features of different schools of thought, and the nature of science in general; (ii) American realism, which offers an ideal starting point for law students to reflect on the material they are about to study critically; (iii) rationalism, empiricism, and logical positivism, in particular the work of Karl Popper; (iv) criticisms of essentialism; (v) the ideological and philosophical background of contemporary liberal interpretation. The inclusion of Dutch, French, and German literature sources makes this law title differ from previous writings on legal science. This textbook is ideal for students of legal method, and will be of great interest to those studying legal science, jurisprudence, legal research,and legal skills.

The aim of this book is to explain in clear terms some of the main methodological approaches in legal research. This is an edited collection, with each chapter written by specialists in their field, researching in a variety of jurisdictions. Each contributor addresses the topic of "lay decision makers in the legal system" from one particular methodological perspective, explaining how they would approach the issue and discussing why their particular method might, or might not, be suited to this topic. In asking all contributors to focus on the same topic, the editors have sought to provide a common link throughout the text, thereby providing the reader with an opportunity to draw comparisons between methods with relative ease. In light of the broad geographical range of its contributors, the book is aimed at an international readership. This book will be of particular interest to PhD students in law, but it will also be of use to undergraduate dissertation students in law, LL.M Research students as well as prospective PhD students and early year researchers.

Lawyers engaged in European/US transborder transactions need to know how to find, understand, and compare applicable foreign and international laws. Breaking the oceanic divide, this book is the first legal research guide to consider internationalization and globalization in both the new law school curriculums and the changing practice of law. The book is a significant expansion and revision of the second edition of Legal Research Methods in the US and Europe. With the inclusion of material on China, Russia, and England - and on researching foreign law in general - the book now reflects a broader scope. Regarding US legal research, this edition explains the impacts and effects of major changes and developments that have occurred very recently, including the introduction of Bloomberg Law, WestlawNext, and the revolutionary Law.gov movement.