Empirical legal studies

Epistemology

Empirical research

Engineering

Philosophy

Sociology

Pragmatism

Political science

Chemistry

Work (physics)

Scholarship

Normative

Legal practice

Legal research

Biochemistry

Engineering ethics

Mechanical engineering

Argument (complex analysis)

Law and Method

Legal doctrinal scholarship engages with the problems of legal practice: it systematizes, comments on, evaluates and debates what goes on in law. These activities do not occur in a vacuum: they are embedded in scholarly traditions and theories. This paper discusses the role of the theoretical frameworks used in legal research and has two related aims. First, it aims to provide some practical conceptualizations and guidelines regarding theoretical and normative frameworks that are useful to understand and conduct legal research. Second, it aims to investigate the relationships between different kinds of normative frameworks and their relationship to empirical work. In the second part, an argument is made for a pragmatist understanding of the interplay between normative theorizing and empirical study. How do these work together in judgments about the state of the law?

Theoretical and Normative Frameworks for Legal Research: Putting Theory into Practice