Empirical research in law

ABSTRACT

Undertaking empirical research in law can be a daunting task, one for which current undergraduate and postgraduate legal education does not provide a great deal of preparation. Yet the ability to undertake such research is valuable and, some suggest, in demand. Many areas of law, its operation and effects, can be usefully informed by empirical research. This article suggests that the benefits of empiricism are both pragmatic or policy-driven, and theoretical.

KEYWORDS:

• Legal research
• empirical research
• legal education

ORCiD

Felicity Bell http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7913-9176

Notes

1 Pound (1910). Note that Posner (1987) identifies John Austin as the forerunner of the Legal Realists.

2 Bradney (2010), p 1025; Fehlberg (1997); Lovric and Millbank (2004).

3 Ali, O’Brien and Ramsay (2015).

4 Snijders and Webb (2014).

5 Leiboff (2013); Sharp (2012).

6 Manderson and Mohr (2002).

7 Manderson and Mohr (2002), p 164 (emphasis added). See also Cane and Kritzer (2010), p 2.

8 Bradney (1998), p 71. On the parasitism of law, see further Murphy and Roberts (1987), p 680.

9 Manderson and Mohr (2002), p 163.

10 Bradney (2010), p 1028. See also Burns and Hutchinson (2009).

11 See, eg, Burns and Hutchinson (2009), pp 167–168.

12 Epstein and King (2002).

13 Harrington and Merry (2010), p 1045.

14 Cane and Kritzer (2010), p 1.

15 See generally Vick’s discussion of doctrinalism: Vick (2004), pp 177–180.

16 Economides (2014).

17 Manderson (2002), p 152; reporting on the General Information Survey for the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. Note that Hutchinson and Duncan (2012) comment that ‘doctrinal’ was not defined in this study: p 99.

18 Manderson (2002).

19 Hutchinson and Duncan (2012), pp 99–100, referring to an audit of theses then available digitally, undertaken by Felicity Deane and Terry Hutchinson.

20 George (2006), p 146. See also Epstein and King (2002) and Hutchinson and Duncan (2012), p 114. Cf. Nard’s assertion that the ‘vast majority’ of legal research is theoretical in nature: Nard (1995), pp 348–349.

21 Bradney (2010), p 1026.

22 For example, Leeuw (2015), p 20. Though note Sarat and Silbey’s (1988) discussion of differing ‘strands’ of legal realism: at pp 104–105; see also Trubek and Esser (1989), pp 8–10.

23 Dow (2011), pp 526–534. See also Vick (2004), pp 182–183.

24 For example, Pound (1910).

25 See, eg, Ginsburg and Shaffer (2012).

26 Kruse (2011–2012), p 660.

27 Moore and Callahan (1943).

28 Kalven and Zeisel (1971), p 11. See generally Kritzer (2009a).

29 Hutchinson (2010), p 97.

30 See, eg, Mnookin and Kornhauser (1979), p 987.

31 Kalven and Zeisel (1971), p 45.

32 See further Gastwirth and Sinclair (2004).

33 Kalven and Zeisel (1971), p 11 n 10, citing Conard et al (1964); La Fave (1965); Rosenberg (1964).

34 Economides (2014), p 269; Cooter (2011). See also Posner (1987), pp 764–765; and the Journal of Law and Economics, published by the University of Chicago Press.

35 Cane and Kritzer (2010), p 1.

36 See http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/SELS/conferences.cfm; Chambliss (2008); Eisenberg (2011), pp 1713–1714; Ho and Kramer (2013). The first European conference on ELS was held in June 2016.

37 Heise (2011), p 1740 n 2. Note that Cane and Kritzer (2010) eschewed use of the term in the Oxford Handbook of Empirical Legal Research: p 1.

38 Ho and Kramer (2013), pp 1195–1196; Leeuw (2015), p 21, citing Seidman Diamond and Mueller (2010); van Dijck (2011); Heise (2011); Eisenberg (2011).

39 See Lawless (2015) on the strengths of ELS.

40 See, eg, the Law & Society Review, the journal of the Law and Society Association (Sarat and Silbey (1988), p 112); and the Journal of Law and Society (formerly the British Journal of Law and Society, which Harris (1983) described as ‘devoted to socio-legal work’: p 316). Cane and Kritzer (2010) group ‘socio-legal studies’ and ‘law and society’ together; see also Adler and Simon (2014), p 175 (Figure 1).

41 Harris (1983), p 315.

42 Collier (2004), p 518 n 69, citing Bradney (2003). Trubek and Esser (1989) likewise described the law and society movement as ‘a shaky coalition’: at p 47.

43 Economides (2014), citing Feeley (2001).

44 Hunter (2008a), p 122.

45 Hunter (2008a), pp 122–125, criticizing in particular the ‘new legal realist’ movement. See also Harrington and Merry (2010), p 1047; Goldsmith and Vermeule (2002) (critiquing Epstein and King, 2002).

46 Feeley (2007), p 758, citing Tamanaha (2006). See also Davies (2002).

47 Eisenberg (2011), p 1719; see also Boyd (2015).

48 Harrington and Merry (2010), p 1052.

49 Wangmann (2009), pp 83–84.

50 Fernando (2011).

51 Mather, McEwen and Maiman (2001), pp 196–197; Eekelaar, Maclean and Beinart (2000), pp 205–207; Parkinson and Cashmore (2008), pp 30–33; Parkinson, Webster and Cashmore (2010).

52 Cain (1979); Davis (1988); Sherr (1986); Sarat and Felstiner (1986); Sarat and Felstiner (1995).

53 Eekelaar, Maclean and Beinart (2000), pp 201–5.

54 Hunter (2008a); Wangmann (2012), pp 702–3.

55 Harrington and Merry (2010), p 1051. Though note Darbyshire, MacDougall and Schiller (2005), pp 423–44.

56 Harrington and Merry (2010), p 1052, citing McCann (1994), Ewick and Silbey (1998), Macaulay (1963); Feeley (1979).

57 Eekelaar, Maclean and Beinart (2000) ‘Appendix’.

58 See, eg, Hirsch (1998).

59 Adler and Adler (1998), p 79.

60 Herzfeld (2001), p 25, cited by Darian-Smith (2004), p 549.

61 Darian-Smith (2004), pp 548–549, citing Miller (2002), p 5. Note the suggestion that there are different ‘models’ of ethnography: Manning (2009), cited by Chan (2013), p 507; see also Travers, Putt and Howard-Wagner (2013).

62 Valverde (2012).

63 Bourgois (2003).

64 Kritzer (2009b), p 270 (emphasis in original).

65 Trubek and Esser (1989), p 43.

66 Whitehouse and Bright (2014), pp 183–185.

67 Moore and Maher (2002), p 246.

68 Hunter (2014), citing Darbyshire (2011).

69 Hunter (2014), p 91.

70 Chan (2013), p 503.

71 Lempert (2008).

72 Genn, Partington and Wheeler (2006).

73 Witherspoon (2002), cited by Vick (2004), p 189.

74 Partington (2008), p 1.

75 George (2006).

76 Genn, Partington and Wheeler (2006), p 29.

77 Hillyard (2007), p 269.

78 Hillyard (2007), p 270. See also Hunter (2012), pp 1–16.

79 Vick (2004), p 188.

80 Hillyard (2007), p 269.

81 Burns and Hutchinson (2009), p 158.

82 Loughnan and Shackel (2009), p 107.

83 Hillyard (2007), p 270.

84 Though noting that many do not end up in legal practice: see, eg, ‘Graduates Shun Legal Profession’, The Age (Melbourne), 20 May 2012; Graduate Careers Australia, GradStats (December 2014), p 6.

85 Thornton (2007).

86 Burns and Hutchinson (2009), pp 170–171.

87 Further, understanding of social science methods is also relevant to the practice of law: see Burns and Hutchinson (2009).

88 See Loughnan and Shackel (2009), pp 99–101; Legal Profession Admission Board of NSW list of accredited law courses, http://www.lpab.justice.nsw.gov.au/Pages/lpab/Accredite-Law-Courses.aspx.

89 See Harrington and Merry (2010), p 1047.

90 Dow (2011), p 526. Kelly and Kaczynski note that many American graduate students have had limited exposure to doing qualitative research: (2007), pp 31–32, citing Eakin and Mykhalovskiy (2005); Kerlin (2000); Sells, Smith and Newfield (1997).

91 Economides (2014), pp 261–266.

92 Carney (1993); Genn, Partington and Wheeler (2006), pp 26–27; Hutchinson (2013), pp 60–62.

93 Economides (2014), p 277.

94 Carney (1993), p 165.

95 Hutchinson (2004), p 80.

96 Burns and Hutchinson (2009), p 168; see also Hutchinson (2013).

97 See Manderson (2002), p 155; Loughnan and Shackel (2009).

98 Noting, however, that this is based on the information available on university websites, which may not include all available options such as ‘auditing’ subjects from other courses or degrees.

99 For example, requiring a researcher to catch taxis rather than use public transport when conducting research at night, which may impose a prohibitive expense on a student. See Maher (2001); van den Eynde and Veno (2013).

100 Zeiler (2016), p 87.

101 Schuck (1989), pp 331–333; Nard (1995), p 362; see also Macdonald (2003).

102 George (2006), p 150, citing George and Guthrie (2002).

103 Heise (2011), p 1746.

104 Heise (2011), pp 1746–1749.

105 Fischman (2013), p 120 n 18, citing Hersch and Viscusi (2012). Note, however, Chemerinsky (2009), p 39.

106 LoPucki (2015b), p 538.

107 LoPucki (2015b), p 538; see also McCrary, Milligan and Phillips (2016).

108 LoPucki (2015a); see also George and Yoon (2014).

109 Vick (2004), pp 192–193, citing Weinstein (1999), pp 327–328.

110 Baron (2007), p 48.

111 Burns and Hutchinson (2009), p 176, citing Adler (2007).

112 See also Burns and Hutchinson (2009), p 164; Hutchinson (2013), pp 54–55.

113 Hutchinson and Duncan (2012).

114 Hutchinson and Duncan (2012), p 85; Hutchinson (2013), p 60.

115 Carney (1993), p 166; Burns and Hutchinson (2009), p 175.

116 Hillyard (2007), p 268.

117 See generally Harrington and Merry (2010), pp 1054–1055; Hurworth (2004).

118 Parry, Atkinson and Delamont (1994), p 46; see also Hill (2007), p 27.

119 Hutchinson (2010), p 100.

120 See n 38 and 40.

121 Kalven and Zeisel (1971), p 33.

122 Edmond (2011); Burns and Hutchinson (2009); Cashmore and Parkinson (2014), pp 240–241.

123 Corbin and Dow (2007), p 191.

124 Burns and Hutchinson (2009).

125 Though note Economides’ comment on this: Economides (2014), p 279.

126 Hutchinson and Duncan (2012), p 85; Hutchinson (2013), p 60.

127 See http://www.innovation.gov.au/page/new-research-funding-arrangements-universities

128 Vick (2004), p 171.

129 Whitehouse and Bright (2014), p 176, citing Heise (1998–99), pp 821–822.

130 Schmidt and Halliday (2009), p 3.

131 Hutchinson (2013), p 55, citing Nutley (2003), p 20; Nutley, Powell and Davies (2013).

132 The project found that particular responses by police when called to domestic violence incidents were more effective in reducing recidivism, but later studies were unable to replicate these results. See Sherman and Cohn (1989); Sherman et al (1992). Posner (1987) also provides numerous examples of ‘reforms engineered by lawyers’ that have ‘miscarried’: at pp 769–771.

133 MacKinnon (1989), ch 11; see also Sandler (1984).

134 Lacey (1996), pp 141, 146.

135 See, eg, Becker (1967); MacKenzie, Christensen and Turner (2015).

136 See, eg, Wangmann (2009), p 65.

137 Lacey (1996), p 132 (emphasis added).

138 Sherr (1999).

139 Seuffert (1996), p 527.

140 See, eg, Oakley (1981); Jack (1999); Maher (2001); Wangmann (2009); Stanton (2014).

141 Sarat and Simon (2003), p 9. See also Garth (1998), pp 4–6.

142 Ingleby (1992), pp 4–5.

143 See, eg, Mnookin and Kornhauser (1979), p 987.

144 Sarat and Silbey (1988), p 97, citing Feeley (1979); Abel (1980); Nelken (1981); Sarat (1985).

145 Lacey (1996), p 132.

146 Fischman (2013), pp 119–120.

147 Hunter (2008a).

148 Hunter (2008a), p 122.

149 Sarat and Silbey (1988), p 113.

150 Blumberg (1967); Macauley (1979); Weitzman (1985).

151 Sarat and Silbey (1988), p 122.

152 Sarat and Silbey (1988), p 115 (emphasis in original).

153 Hunter (2008a), p 123.

154 Hunter (2008a), p 125, citing Collier (2004).

155 Hutchinson and Duncan (2012), p 86.

156 For example, Economides (2014).

157 Hunter (2008a), p 126.

158 Hunter (2008a), citing Day Sclater and Kaganas (2003); Kaganas and Day Sclater (2004); Sommerlad and Sanderson (1998); Hunter et al (2006).

159 Lacey (1996); Hunter (2008a); Hillyard and Sim (1997).