Tamanaha on Sociological Jurisprudence Past and Present

Brian Z. Tamanaha, Washington University, St. Louis, School of Law, is publishing Sociological Jurisprudence Past and Present in Law and Social Inquiry. Here is the abstract.

Through the mid-twentieth century, jurisprudents considered sociological jurisprudence to be one of the most influential theories of law in the United States. By end of the century, however, it had virtually disappeared. The publication of Roger Cotterrell’s Sociological Jurisprudence (2018) provides an occasion to examine what this theory of law was about, why it disappeared, and its prospects for revival. The topics covered are the circumstances surrounding the origin of sociological jurisprudence, the tenets of sociological jurisprudence, the successes of sociological jurisprudence, its relationship with sociology of law, its relationship with legal realism, its place in contemporary jurisprudence, and finally, the need to keep jurisprudence open.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

David Rabban on the European Origins of Roscoe Pound's Sociological Jurisprudence

David M. Rabban, University of Texas School of Law, has published Pound's Sociological Jurisprudence: European Roots and American Applications in Le "moment 1900": Critique sociale et critique sociologique du droit en Europe et aux Etats-Unis (Paris: Editions Pantheon Assas, 2015). Here is the abstract.

Roscoe Pound, widely viewed by his contemporaries and subsequent scholars as the most important American legal thinker during the first decades of the twentieth century, was by far the leading proponent of the “critique social et critique sociologique du droit aux Etats-Unis.” This article stresses the extent to which Pound relied on German and French legal scholars in developing what he called “sociological jurisprudence.” It then examines how Pound applied its central themes to propose legal reforms designed to address the social and economic problems of a society transformed by urbanization and corporate capitalism. It closes by examining Pound’s legacy.

Download the essay from SSRN at the link.