Does Empirical Legal Studies Shed more Heat than Light? The Case of Civil Damage Awards

Ratio Juris 29 (4):556-571 (2016)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Empirical investigation of legal systems is emerging as a leading trend in both the social sciences and the legal academy in the early twenty-first century. Law reviews are now filled with studies reporting empirical data. Because empirical investigation of law commonly seeks to inform contentious social and political debates, however, its research often fuels more debate than it resolves. Partisans on both sides of contentious issues now cite the same body of research to support their reform efforts. However, social science research on law is not a useless undertaking, as it can sharpen debate. But the hope that the new empirical legal studies movement will become a neutral source of information for policy makers is unlikely to be realized.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,593

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

The Oxford handbook of empirical legal research.Peter Cane & Herbert M. Kritzer (eds.) - 2010 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Over de wetenschappelijkheid van de rechtswetenschap.Boudewijn Bruin - 2009 - Netherlands Journal of Legal Philosophy 38 (3):236-243.
Legal authority as a social fact.Michael Baurmann - 2000 - Law and Philosophy 19 (2):247-262.
Empirical legal research and policy-making.Martin Partington - 2010 - In Peter Cane & Herbert M. Kritzer (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Empirical Legal Research. Oxford University Press.
Qualitative approaches to empirical legal research.Lisa Webley - 2010 - In Peter Cane & Herbert M. Kritzer (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Empirical Legal Research. Oxford University Press.
Legal education and the legal academy.Fiona Cownie - 2010 - In Peter Cane & Herbert M. Kritzer (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Empirical Legal Research. Oxford University Press.
Legal theory and empirical research.D. J. Galligan - 2010 - In Peter Cane & Herbert M. Kritzer (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Empirical Legal Research. Oxford University Press.

Analytics

Added to PP
2015-04-17

Downloads
6 (#1,269,502)

6 months
1 (#1,040,386)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

A guide to critical legal studies.Mark G. Kelman - 1987 - Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
A Guide to Critical Legal Studies.Mark Kelman - 1988 - The Personalist Forum 4 (2):57-60.

Add more references