Donoghue, Jane (2009) Reflections on the sociology of law: A rejection of law as ‘socially marginal’. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 37 (1-2). pp. 51-63. ISSN 1756-0616

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Abstract

Rejecting the concept of law as subservient to social pathology, the principle aim of this article is to locate law as a critical matter of social structure – and power – which requires to be considered as a central element in the construction of society and social institutions. As such, this article contends that wider jurisprudential notions such as legal procedure and procedural justice, and juridical power and discretion are cogent, robust normative social concerns (as much as they are legal concerns) that positively require consideration and representation in the empirical study of sociological phenomena. Reflecting upon scholarship and research evidence on legal procedure and decision-making, the article attempts to elucidate the inter-relationship between power, ‘the social’, and the operation of law. It concludes that law is not ‘socially marginal’ but socially, totally central

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	School of Law, Politics and Sociology > Law
Subjects:	K Law > K Law in General. Comparative and uniform Law. Jurisprudence > K0140 History of Law K Law > K Law in General. Comparative and uniform Law. Jurisprudence > K0201 Jurisprudence. Philosophy and theory of law > K0236 Universality and non-universality of law K Law > KD Law of the United Kingdom and Ireland > KDC Scotland
Depositing User:	Jane Donoghue
Date Deposited:	16 Jan 2013 15:11
Last Modified:	08 Mar 2017 07:27
URI:	http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/43475

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