Casting Off, and Reclaiming, the Weberian Tradition: Comparative Law and Socio-Legal Studies

71 Pages Posted: 18 Nov 2005

Date Written: November 2005

Abstract

One finds everywhere signs of a new rapprochement between comparative law and socio-legal studies. A new series of shared topics, including, in particular, questions surrounding the character of law in transnational or globalized conditions, and the consequences of the exportation or importation of doctrines, practices and institutions associated with the Rule of Law from one jurisdiction to another, engage both comparative lawyers and socio-legal scholars. Likewise, a series of methodological shifts in both fields - shifts emblematic of wider epistemological realignments in law, the humanities and the social sciences - has rendered some of the old fault lines between socio-legal studies and comparative law increasingly obsolete.

In this chapter, I consider some of the traditional disputes between comparative lawyers and socio-legal studies as outdated legacies of their different appropriations of the legal sociology of Max Weber. I argue that methodological progress in both fields demands casting off some of the vestiges of the Weberian tradition that continue, consciously or not, to dictate the path of research in both fields. But whatever the problems with Weber's larger argument and comparative methods, certain distinctions, Weber's work also continues to fascinate and I argue that returning to some other aspects of the Weberian tradition - in particular Weber's interest in the character of legal knowledge, and his refusal to situate his work squarely within either legal or sociological methodological camps - directs us to a different future for socio-legal approaches to comparative law.

Suggested Citation

Riles, Annelise and Riles, Annelise, Casting Off, and Reclaiming, the Weberian Tradition: Comparative Law and Socio-Legal Studies (November 2005). Cornell Legal Studies Research Paper No. 05-033, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=850165 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.850165

Annelise Riles (Contact Author)

Buffett Institute of Global Affairs ( email )

1902 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL
United States

Northwestern Law School ( email )

375 E. Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL 60611
United States
(312) 503-1018 (Phone)
(312) 988-6579 (Fax)

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