The Place and Role of the Sociology of Law in the System of Science

The century has passed since the publication of the monumental work by Eugen Ehrlich – Grundlegung der Soziologie des Rechts – which marked the foundation of the discipline, but methodological problems and disciplinary belonging of the legal sociology are still disputed. After the century it is still not clear where does legal sociology belong to – is it a sub-discipline of sociology, is it a part of juristic science using interdisciplinary methods, or has it already been established as an autonomous discipline beyond both sociology and legal science, thus representing an independent discourse with its own identity, subject matter and internal logics? As argued by neutral observers of the discipline, the majority of socio-legal scholars doing either empirical or theoretical work, are mostly legally trained, having major in law but also additional training in sociology. The majority of influential manuals and textbooks in sociology of law are produced by legally trained scholars, who use interdisciplinary perspectives. Also sociology of law as an academic discipline is mostly taught at the law departments. Nevertheless sociology of law is conventionally conceived as sub-discipline of sociology, what really neglects increasing and almost exclusive role of legal scientists for the establishment of the discipline.

It will be argued in the paper that conventional thinking about disciplinary boundaries of legal sociology has to be reconsidered under its current academic status, role and institutional autonomy. Both emergence of independent socio-legal discourse and its institutional autonomy legitimate this challenge.

The alternative definition of legal sociology will be proposed in the paper, stating that sociology of law represents an independent academic discipline beyond sociology and legal science, based on the observation of legal practices in social reality, having as its aim to criticize the positive law and propose alternatives for improving the modes of normative regulation in society.