Early Sociological theories to law

1. Sociological
Approaches to Law

2. • Emphasises the significance of social factors in the study of
law
• Laws are rooted in social institutions and socio-economic
networks which influence the course of law
• Sociology is concerned with both formal (normative) and
substantive (operational) aspects of law
• Sociological approaches to law conceive Law as the whole of
legal norms in society as well as the practices and
institutions that are associated with those norms
• Early pioneers- Made significant observations on law -
Durkheim, Karl Marx and Max Weber

3. Durkheim’s Sociology of Law
• Macro level analysis of social transition
• Simple to complex societies
• From repressive to restitutive
• In simple society- law was based on stringent punishment
• Complex society- compensatory principle

4. Critique of Durkheim
• According to Chamblis and Siedman the reverse is true
• Earlier societies had reciprocal relationship and personal
ties
• So compensation for injury was accepted
• In complex societies- impersonal relationships
• Repression by state or police

5. Karl Marx
• Always advocated the notion of power- critique of capitalist
society
• Regarded the legal system of his times as the outcome of
certain dominant and vested interests
• Law as tool to preserve and promote the privileges of the
powerful
• In communist society (future)- private interests replaced by
collective goals
• State and Law would be unnecessary

6. • Guild like collectivities- marked by self governance and self
regulation
• But practically what happened to present day socialist
states??
• Considerable concentration of legal authority in state and
repression of the masses!

7. Max Weber
• Notion of rational-legal authority
• Derives from the bureaucracy and legality
• How leadership (a form of authority of an organisation) or ruling regime
is largely tied to legal rationality, legal legitimacy and bureaucracy
• His study of historical jurisprudence- gradual ascendancy of the rational
legal principle
• Modern formal organisations like state and judiciary- guided by this
• Emphasise hierarchic structure of bureaucratic authority, division of
spheres of work, impersonal interaction, specific functions, large scale
organisation, official procedures, predominance of contractual
relationships etc

8. • Ref. T.K Oommen and C.N Venugopal (ch.15)