American legal realism and empirical social science
By: John Henry Schlegel.
Series: Studies in legal history
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Chapel Hill
Language: eng
Number of pages: 418
Subjects: Jurisprudence -- Research -- United States -- History.; Jurisprudence -- United States -- Methodology.; Law -- United States -- Methodology.; Social sciences -- Research -- United States -- History.
Other titles: American legal realism & empirical social science
Description: John Henry Schlegel recovers a largely ignored aspect of American Legal Realism, a movement in legal thought in the 1920's and 1930's that sought to bring the modern notion of empirical science into the study and teaching of law. In this book, he explores individual Realist scholars' efforts to challenge the received notion that the study of law was primarily a matter of learning rules and how to manipulate them.

He argues that empirical research was integral to Legal Realism, and he explores why this kind of research did not, finally, become a part of American law school curricula.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [271]-402) and index.