Traditions of Studying the Social and the Legal : A Short Introduction to the Institutional and Intellectual Development of Socio-Legal Studies

In this chapter I trace the development of the field of socio-legal studies over the past 50 years. In a quest for an understanding of how law, culture, and social structures interact, we travel across the globe. The study of socio-legal phenomena opens up an inquiry into a range of spaces to study the intersection between law and society: legal systems, disputing behaviour, decision-making, juries and judges, the role of authorities, and so forth. With a focus on change to institutional history and evolution I highlight key moments that show how institutions have shaped socio-legal development. In a modest attempt to provide a glimpse of socio legal studies I divide this chapter into two parts. The first part maps the developments of socio-legal through national institutions. The second part draws upon lived wisdom of pioneers of the socio-legal movements of our time, sharing stories that usually remain hidden from a general audience. It is important for the continuing development of scholarly knowledge for the field to consider its history and to explore motivations, struggles and journeys into the socio legal of today