An Introduction to the Sociology of Law

The exiled Russian sociologist and legal scholar Nicholas S. Timasheff's place in the forefront of the sociology of law was established with the publication, in 1939, of An Introduction to the Sociology of Law. His magnum opus articulates a systematic legal sociology. The book's title is misleading, giving the false impression that the volume is merely a textbook intended for classroom use. It is much more than this. An Introduction to the Sociology of Law is a sophisticated treatise that explains, precisely and methodically, the law as a social force. It makes two fundamental points: law can, indeed must, be studied by sociology, and law is a combination of socio-ethical and imperative coordination of human behavior.A continuing thread in Introduction is Timasheff's interest in the dialectical interplay between the positive law and the living law. What is more, he discusses at length what he considers to be the essential systems of thought and action in the social sciences. Timasheff sees sociology's purpose as the study of similar, related, or clusters of social phenomena. Accordingly, Timasheff's focus is principally on the law's causal reality.Several scholars have made a case for bestowing the title of "founder" of the sociology of law on Timasheff. Certainly the sociolegal theory and methodological prescriptions that he explicates in An Introduction to the Sociology of Law will inspire a new generation of law and society scholars. Many of the proposals that he makes merit elaboration, modification, and verification, and that effort must begin with the study of this monumental work.

Nicholas S. Timasheff (1886-1970) taught at the University of St. Petersburg, the University of Prague, the Slavic Institute of the Sorbonne, and at Harvard University before joining the faculty of arts and sciences at Fordham University in 1940.