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Research Handbook on Modern Legal Realism
This insightful Research Handbook provides a definitive overview of the New Legal Realism (NLR) movement, reaching beyond historical and national boundaries to form new conversations. Drawing on deep roots within the law-and-society tradition, it demonstrates the powerful virtues of new legal realist research and its attention to the challenges of translation between social science and law. It explores an impressive range of contemporary issues including immigration, policing, globalization, legal education, and access to justice, concluding with and examination of how different social science disciplines intersect with NLR.
More Information
Critical Acclaim
Contributors
Contents
More Information
This insightful Research Handbook provides a definitive overview of the New Legal Realism (NLR) movement, reaching beyond historical and national boundaries to form new conversations. Drawing on deep roots within the law-and-society tradition, it demonstrates the powerful virtues of new legal realist research and its attention to the challenges of translation between social science and law.
Highlighting a contrast with the current Empirical Legal Studies movement, chapters employ a variety of theoretically grounded methods to understand law and address legal problems. They explore an impressive range of contemporary issues including immigration, policing, globalization, legal education, and access to justice, concluding with an examination of how different social science disciplines intersect with NLR.
Incorporating global perspectives, the Research Handbook on Modern Legal Realism will be a key resource for scholars and students of legal theory and socio-legal studies. Illuminating the best approaches for combining social science considerations with expert perspectives on legal doctrines, it will also be of interest to practitioners and policy makers working in fields such as criminal and family law.
Highlighting a contrast with the current Empirical Legal Studies movement, chapters employ a variety of theoretically grounded methods to understand law and address legal problems. They explore an impressive range of contemporary issues including immigration, policing, globalization, legal education, and access to justice, concluding with an examination of how different social science disciplines intersect with NLR.
Incorporating global perspectives, the Research Handbook on Modern Legal Realism will be a key resource for scholars and students of legal theory and socio-legal studies. Illuminating the best approaches for combining social science considerations with expert perspectives on legal doctrines, it will also be of interest to practitioners and policy makers working in fields such as criminal and family law.
Critical Acclaim
‘This splendid volume displays a wide range of methodologically diverse, theoretically rich, and empirically grounded scholarship that thrives in the “big tent” of the new legal realism intellectual enterprise. The chapters creatively draw on both disciplinary and interdisciplinary social science frameworks to demonstrate the power and meaning of law in action throughout multiple social, economic, and political contexts around the globe. The book is a major achievement. Highly recommended for scholars and teachers of law!’
– Michael McCann, University of Washington, US
‘In every way imaginable this volume is superb. It picks up where the Old Legal Realism left off, and shows what the New Legal Realism has to offer. Its contributors are a who''s who in their fields. Their well-written chapters are packed with insights. The book will serve a diverse audience. As a whole, the volume will force everyone who looks at it to place their interests in broad context. It is a stunning achievement.’
– Malcolm M. Feeley, University of California, Berkeley, US
‘This exciting Research Handbook is an essential resource on the New Legal Realism (NLR), which developed a distinctive genre of empirical research of law. The Research Handbook powerfully exemplifies NLR’s integrative strategy, which deploys mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative as well as observational and experimental) and is attentive to the challenge of translation between social science and law. Covering a wide range of timely topics, this rich Research Handbook provides valuable insights on legal institutions and the individuals and organizations that encounter law.’
– Hanoch Dagan, Tel Aviv University, Israel
– Michael McCann, University of Washington, US
‘In every way imaginable this volume is superb. It picks up where the Old Legal Realism left off, and shows what the New Legal Realism has to offer. Its contributors are a who''s who in their fields. Their well-written chapters are packed with insights. The book will serve a diverse audience. As a whole, the volume will force everyone who looks at it to place their interests in broad context. It is a stunning achievement.’
– Malcolm M. Feeley, University of California, Berkeley, US
‘This exciting Research Handbook is an essential resource on the New Legal Realism (NLR), which developed a distinctive genre of empirical research of law. The Research Handbook powerfully exemplifies NLR’s integrative strategy, which deploys mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative as well as observational and experimental) and is attentive to the challenge of translation between social science and law. Covering a wide range of timely topics, this rich Research Handbook provides valuable insights on legal institutions and the individuals and organizations that encounter law.’
– Hanoch Dagan, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Contributors
Contributors: L.T. Alexander, J. Barnes, P. Baumgardner, B.H. Bix, D.W. Carbado, N. Cheesman, S.B. Coutin, M.E. Deo, L.B. Edelman, M. Galanter, B.G. Garth, J.v.H. Holtermann, A. Huneeus, L. Israël, L.V. Johansen, L. Kalman, L. Kawar, A.L. Kjær, H. Klug, M. Madsen, M. Mansfield, S.L. McKinnon, A.K. Mehrotra, J. Meierhenrich, E. Mertz, J. Miaz, T.W. Mitchell, C. Morrill, D. Nelken, L.S. Richardson, R.L. Sandefur, S. Sclofsky, S.A. Seo, M. Siems, S. Talesh, E. Taylor Poppe, R. Tejani, T.R. Tyler, R.A. Wilson
Contents
Contents:
1 Introduction to the Research Handbook on Modern Legal Realism 1
Shauhin Talesh, Elizabeth Mertz and Heinz Klug
PART I VARIETIES OF LEGAL REALISM – THEN AND NOW
2 Realism then and now: using the real world to inform formal law 21
Elizabeth Mertz (with Marc Galanter)
3 East Coast Legal Realism and its progeny 36
Laura Kalman
4 From the periphery to the center and back? A brief history of Midwest
Legal Realism 49
Paul Baumgardner and Ajay K. Mehrotra
5 European New Legal Realism: towards a basic science of law 67
Jakob v. H. Holtermann and Mikael Rask Madsen
6 Lessons for new Legal Realism from Africa and Latin America 82
Alexandra Huneeus and Heinz Klug
PART II LEGAL REALIST SCHOLARSHIP MEETS CURRENT DILEMMAS
SECTION A POLICING
7 Police violence in São Paulo: Between the asphalt and the hill 100
Sebastian Sclofsky
8 Police torture, a case for interdisciplinarity 112
Nick Cheesman
9 A Legal Realist approach to black-on-black policing 124
Devon W. Carbado and L. Song Richardson
SECTION B IMMIGRATION
10 Transgressing boundaries through new Legal Realist approaches:
Affinity and collaboration within ethnographic research on immigration
law and policy 148
Susan Bibler Coutin
11 Enacting immigration politics in a juridical register 161
Leila Kawar and Jonathan Miaz
12 Critical legal rhetoric takes on immigration and refugee law 176
Sara L. McKinnon
SECTION C LEGAL EDUCATION
13 New Legal Realism goes to law school: Integrating social science and
law through legal education 191
Emily Taylor Poppe
14 Teaching an interdisciplinary law class 208
Marsha Mansfield and Elizabeth Mertz
15 Ambition and reality: Reforms of legal studies at the Faculty of Law at
the University of Copenhagen 223
Louise Victoria Johansen and Anne Lise Kjær
16 New Legal Realism, eCRT, and the future of legal education scholarship 240
Meera E. Deo
SECTION D INTERNATIONAL LAW, GLOBAL STANDARDS, AND
REGIME CHANGE
17 The uses and abuses of global social indicators 263
David Nelken and Mathias Siems
18 “The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience”:
International legal ethnography and the New Legal Realism 277
Jens Meierhenrich and Richard Ashby Wilson
19 The judicialization of politics? 294
Heinz Klug
SECTION E ACCESSING JUSTICE THROUGH LAW
20 A realist perspective on legal strategy in (the) practice 309
Liora Israël
21 Access to justice 323
Rebecca L. Sandefur
22 Planet of the insurers: how insurers shape and influence law and impact
access to justice 335
Shauhin Talesh
23 Rendering rural property visible to law: a role for New Legal Realism 353
Thomas W. Mitchell
24 Urban property and housing rights in the time of the coronavirus 375
Lisa T. Alexander
PART III DISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVES
25 Anthropology 393
Riaz Tejani
26 Sociology of law and New Legal Realism 412
Calvin Morrill and Lauren B. Edelman
27 The pitfalls and promises of a New Legal Realism rooted in political science 431
Jeb Barnes
28 Psychology and legal realism 445
Tom R. Tyler
29 User’s guide to history 463
Sarah A. Seo
30 Jurisprudence and legal theory 478
Brian H. Bix
31 Law as a discipline: Legal theory, interdisciplinary legal theory, and
ways of speaking legitimacy to power 489
Bryant G. Garth
Index
1 Introduction to the Research Handbook on Modern Legal Realism 1
Shauhin Talesh, Elizabeth Mertz and Heinz Klug
PART I VARIETIES OF LEGAL REALISM – THEN AND NOW
2 Realism then and now: using the real world to inform formal law 21
Elizabeth Mertz (with Marc Galanter)
3 East Coast Legal Realism and its progeny 36
Laura Kalman
4 From the periphery to the center and back? A brief history of Midwest
Legal Realism 49
Paul Baumgardner and Ajay K. Mehrotra
5 European New Legal Realism: towards a basic science of law 67
Jakob v. H. Holtermann and Mikael Rask Madsen
6 Lessons for new Legal Realism from Africa and Latin America 82
Alexandra Huneeus and Heinz Klug
PART II LEGAL REALIST SCHOLARSHIP MEETS CURRENT DILEMMAS
SECTION A POLICING
7 Police violence in São Paulo: Between the asphalt and the hill 100
Sebastian Sclofsky
8 Police torture, a case for interdisciplinarity 112
Nick Cheesman
9 A Legal Realist approach to black-on-black policing 124
Devon W. Carbado and L. Song Richardson
SECTION B IMMIGRATION
10 Transgressing boundaries through new Legal Realist approaches:
Affinity and collaboration within ethnographic research on immigration
law and policy 148
Susan Bibler Coutin
11 Enacting immigration politics in a juridical register 161
Leila Kawar and Jonathan Miaz
12 Critical legal rhetoric takes on immigration and refugee law 176
Sara L. McKinnon
SECTION C LEGAL EDUCATION
13 New Legal Realism goes to law school: Integrating social science and
law through legal education 191
Emily Taylor Poppe
14 Teaching an interdisciplinary law class 208
Marsha Mansfield and Elizabeth Mertz
15 Ambition and reality: Reforms of legal studies at the Faculty of Law at
the University of Copenhagen 223
Louise Victoria Johansen and Anne Lise Kjær
16 New Legal Realism, eCRT, and the future of legal education scholarship 240
Meera E. Deo
SECTION D INTERNATIONAL LAW, GLOBAL STANDARDS, AND
REGIME CHANGE
17 The uses and abuses of global social indicators 263
David Nelken and Mathias Siems
18 “The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience”:
International legal ethnography and the New Legal Realism 277
Jens Meierhenrich and Richard Ashby Wilson
19 The judicialization of politics? 294
Heinz Klug
SECTION E ACCESSING JUSTICE THROUGH LAW
20 A realist perspective on legal strategy in (the) practice 309
Liora Israël
21 Access to justice 323
Rebecca L. Sandefur
22 Planet of the insurers: how insurers shape and influence law and impact
access to justice 335
Shauhin Talesh
23 Rendering rural property visible to law: a role for New Legal Realism 353
Thomas W. Mitchell
24 Urban property and housing rights in the time of the coronavirus 375
Lisa T. Alexander
PART III DISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVES
25 Anthropology 393
Riaz Tejani
26 Sociology of law and New Legal Realism 412
Calvin Morrill and Lauren B. Edelman
27 The pitfalls and promises of a New Legal Realism rooted in political science 431
Jeb Barnes
28 Psychology and legal realism 445
Tom R. Tyler
29 User’s guide to history 463
Sarah A. Seo
30 Jurisprudence and legal theory 478
Brian H. Bix
31 Law as a discipline: Legal theory, interdisciplinary legal theory, and
ways of speaking legitimacy to power 489
Bryant G. Garth
Index
