Law, Culture and Society

Law, Culture and Society
Author: Professor Roger Cotterrell
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2013-01-28
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1409493105

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This book presents a distinctive approach to the study of law in society, focusing on the sociological interpretation of legal ideas. It surveys the development of connections between legal studies and social theory and locates its approach in relation to sociolegal studies on the one hand and legal philosophy on the other. It is suggested that the concept of law must be re-considered. Law has to be seen today not just as the law of the nation state, or international law that links nation states, but also as transnational law in many forms. A legal pluralist approach is not just a matter of redefining law in legal theory; it also recognizes that law's authority comes from a plurality of diverse, sometimes conflicting, social sources. The book suggests that the social environment in which law operates must also be rethought, with many implications for comparative legal studies. The nature and boundaries of culture become important problems, while the concept of multiculturalism points to the cultural diversity of populations and to problems of fragmentation, or perhaps to new kinds of unity of the social. Theories of globalization raise a host of issues about the integrity of societies and about the need to understand social networks and forces that extend beyond the political societies of nation states. Through a range of specific studies, closely interrelated and building on each other, the book seeks to integrate the sociology of law with other kinds of legal analysis and engages directly with current juristic debates in legal theory and comparative law.

Law, Legal Culture and Society

Law, Legal Culture and Society
Author: Alberto Febbrajo
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 443
Release: 2018-07-04
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1351040324

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This volume addresses the pluralistic identity of the legal order. It argues that the mutual reflexivity of the different ways society perceives law and law perceives society eclipses the unique formal identity of written law. It advances a distinctive approach to the plural ways in which legal cultures work in a modern society, through the metaphor of the mirror. As a mirror of society, it distinguishes between the structure and function of legal culture within the legal system, and the external representation of law in society. This duality is further problematized in relation to the increasing transnationalisation of law. Based on a multi-level interpretation of the concept of legal culture, the work is divided into three parts: the first addresses the mutual reflections of social and legal norms that support a pluralist representation of internal legal cultures, the second concentrates on the external legal cultures that constantly enable pragmatic adjustments of the legal order to its social environment, and the third concludes the book with a theoretical discussion of the issues presented.

Law in Culture and Society

Law in Culture and Society
Author: Laura Nader
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 468
Release: 1997-04-25
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780520208339

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"A classic collection in the anthropology of law. While some exceptionally good descriptive work is presented, the volume is particularly valuable in providing a range of thoughtful, engaged, and empirically grounded theoretical explorations of issues in the comparative study of law and conflict."—Donald Brenneis, author of Dangerous Words

Law, Culture and Society

Law, Culture and Society
Author: Roger Cotterrell
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2017-10-03
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1351217968

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This book presents a distinctive approach to the study of law in society, focusing on the sociological interpretation of legal ideas. It surveys the development of connections between legal studies and social theory and locates its approach in relation to sociolegal studies on the one hand and legal philosophy on the other. It is suggested that the concept of law must be re-considered. Law has to be seen today not just as the law of the nation state, or international law that links nation states, but also as transnational law in many forms. A legal pluralist approach is not just a matter of redefining law in legal theory; it also recognizes that law's authority comes from a plurality of diverse, sometimes conflicting, social sources. The book suggests that the social environment in which law operates must also be rethought, with many implications for comparative legal studies. The nature and boundaries of culture become important problems, while the concept of multiculturalism points to the cultural diversity of populations and to problems of fragmentation, or perhaps to new kinds of unity of the social. Theories of globalization raise a host of issues about the integrity of societies and about the need to understand social networks and forces that extend beyond the political societies of nation states. Through a range of specific studies, closely interrelated and building on each other, the book seeks to integrate the sociology of law with other kinds of legal analysis and engages directly with current juristic debates in legal theory and comparative law.

Research from Archival Case Records

Research from Archival Case Records
Author: Philip C.C. Huang
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 586
Release: 2014-04-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004271899

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Legal history studies have often focused mainly on codified law, without attention to actual practice, and on the past, without relating it to the present. As the title—Research from Archival Case Records: Law, Society, and Culture in China—of this book suggests, the authors deliberately follow the research method of starting from court actions and only on that basis engage in discussions of laws and legal concepts and theory. The articles cover a range of topics and source materials, both past and present. They provide some surprising findings—about disjunctures between code and practice, adjustments between them, and how those reveal operative principles and logics different from what the legal texts alone might suggest. Contributors are: Kathryn Bernhardt, Danny Hsu, Philip C. C. Huang, Christopher Isett, Yasuhiko Karasawa, Margaret Kuo, Huaiyin Li, Jennifer M. Neighbors, Bradly W. Reed, Matthew H. Sommer, Huey Bin Teng, Lisa Tran, Elizabeth VanderVen, and Chenjun You.

Law in Society: Reflections on Children, Family, Culture and Philosophy

Law in Society: Reflections on Children, Family, Culture and Philosophy
Author: Alison Diduck
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 685
Release: 2015-08-24
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9004261494

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This collection, written by legal scholars from around the world, offers insights into a variety of topics from children’s rights to criminal law, jurisprudence, medical ethics and more. Its breadth reflects the fact that these are all elements of what can broadly be called ‘law and society’, that enterprise that is interested in law’s place or influence in diffferent aspects of real lives and understands law to be simultaneously symbol, philosophy and action. It is also testament to the broad range of vision of Professor Michael Freeman, in whose honour the volume was conceived. The contributions are divided into categories which reflect his distinguished career and publications, over 85 books and countless articles, including pioneering work on children’s rights, domestic violence, religious law, jurisprudence, law and culture, family law and medicine, ethics and the law, as well as his enduring commitment to interdisciplinarity. The volume begins with work on law in its philosophical, cultural or symbolic realm (Part I: Law and Stories: Culture, Religion and Philosophy), including its commitment to the normative ideal of ‘rights’ (Part II: Law and Rights), and then offfers work on law as coercive state action (Part III: Law and the Coercive State) and as regulator of personal relationships (Part IV: Law and Personal Living). It continues with reflections on the importance of globalisation, both of law and of ‘doing family’ in personal and public life (Part V: Law and International Living) before closing with two reflections on Michael Freeman’s body of work generally, including one from Michael himself (Part VI: Law and Michael Freeman).

Law in Culture and Society

Law in Culture and Society
Author: Laura Nader
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 467
Release: 1997-04-25
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0520208331

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"A classic collection in the anthropology of law. While some exceptionally good descriptive work is presented, the volume is particularly valuable in providing a range of thoughtful, engaged, and empirically grounded theoretical explorations of issues in the comparative study of law and conflict."—Donald Brenneis, author of Dangerous Words

The Anthropology of Justice

The Anthropology of Justice
Author: Lawrence Rosen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 136
Release: 1989-06-15
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780521367400

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Law has often been seen as a relatively autonomous domain, one in which a professional elite sharply control the impact of broader social relations and cultural concepts. By contrast this study asserts that the analysis of legal systems, like the analysis of social systems generally, requires an understanding of the concepts and relationships encountered in everyday social life. Using as its substantive base the Islamic law courts of Morocco, the study explores the cultural basis of judicial discretion. From the proposition that in Arabic culture relationships are subject to considerable negotiation the idea is developed that the shaping of facts in a court of law, the use of local experts, and the organization of the judicial structure all contribute to the reliance on local concepts and personnel to inform the range of judicial discretion. By drawing comparisons with the exercise of judicial discretion in America the study demonstrates that cultural concepts deeply inform the evaluation of issues and the shapes of a judge's decision. The Anthropology of Justice is not only the first full-scale study of the actual operations of the actual operations of a modern Islamic law court anywhere in the Arab world but a demonstration of the theoretical basis on which a cultural analysis of the law may be founded.

Law, Society and Culture in the Maghrib, 1300-1500

Law, Society and Culture in the Maghrib, 1300-1500
Author: David S. Powers
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2002-09-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780521816915

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Focusing on the Maghrib in the period between 1300 and 1500, in this 2002 book David Powers analyses the application of Islamic law through the role of the mufti. To unravel the sophistication of the law, he considers six cases which took place in the Marinid period on subjects as diverse as paternity, fornication, water rights, family endowments, the slander of the Prophet and disinheritance. The source for these disputes are fatwas issued by the muftis, which the author uses to situate each case in its historical context and to interpret the principles of Islamic law. In so doing he demonstrates that, contrary to popular stereotypes, muftis were in fact dedicated to reasoned argument, and sensitive to the manner in which law, society and culture interacted. The book represents a groundbreaking approach to a complex field. It will be read by students of Islamic law and those interested in traditional Muslim societies.

Law and Society Today

Law and Society Today
Author: Riaz Tejani
Publisher: University of California Press
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2019-08-20
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0520295749

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Law and Society Today is a problem-oriented survey of sociolegal studies, with a unique emphasis on recent historical and political developments. Whereas other texts focus heavily on criminal procedure, this book foregrounds the significant changes of the 2000s and 2010s, including neoliberalism, migration, multiculturalism, and the large influence of law and economics in law teaching, policy debates, and judicial decision-making. Each chapter presents key concepts, real-world applications, and hypothetical problems that allow students to test comprehension. With an integrated approach to theory and practice and written in an accessible tone, this text helps students recognize the dynamic forces that shape the way the law is constructed and implemented, particularly how law drives social inequality.