Cotterrell, Roger --- "How should lawyers use sociological ideas? Juristic practice and social science" [2016] ELECD 1014; in Taekema, Sanne; Klink, van Bart; Been, de Wouter (eds), "Facts and Norms in Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016) 242

Book Title: Facts and Norms in Law

Editor(s): Taekema, Sanne; Klink, van Bart; Been, de Wouter

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781785361081

Section: Chapter 11

Section Title: How should lawyers use sociological ideas? Juristic practice and social science

Author(s): Cotterrell, Roger

Number of pages: 21

Abstract/Description:

Can sociological inquiries play an important role in addressing juristic issues? Are they debarred from doing so by a necessary separation of ‘is’ and ‘ought’ – by the divide between a sociological concern to understand social facts and a juristic concern to interpret and develop legal norms? This chapter argues that the fact–norm divide may not be an absolute bar. Much depends on the ways in which the role of the jurist and the scope of legal sociology are understood. While sociological inquiries cannot solve normative problems of law, they can reveal and explain much, not only about the contexts in which juristic problems are addressed, but also why these problems take the form they do, why certain kinds of juristic arguments may tend to prevail over others, and what the parameters of meaningful juristic debate are likely to be in specific contexts.