Socio-Legal Studies in Context The Oxford Centre Past and Future

This volume of essays celebrates 21 years of research by the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies in Oxford. Socio-legal studies in the United Kingdom was pioneered by the Oxford Centre, with the support of the Economic and Social Research Council and the University of Oxford. Over the course of 21 years, the Centre has produced major and innovative studies in a number of areas including: regulation, family policy, law and psychology, law and economics, and business and the law. While the face of socio-legal studies has changed over 21 years, the Oxford Centre remains at the heart of the field and will continue to provide leadership and inspiration to others working within it. This book brings together the reflections of leading scholars from around the world on the life and work of the Oxford Centre. They record how the pioneering studies carried out by the Centre have become a bench-mark for researchers, and how the discipline of socio-legal research has developed. The scholars writing in this volume pay tribute to the achievements of the Oxford Centre and its role in developing the subject of Socio-Legal Studies. Socio-Legal Studies in Context is the first attempt to take stock of the development of this field in the United Kingdom. With an increasing awareness amongst legal scholars of the need for socio-legal research, this volume is essential reading for all teachers of law and law related subjects. It will provide rich ideas for young researchers wishing to involve themselves in the socio-legal approach. It will also provide an opportunity for more experienced researchers to look back and re-assess their own work and help them form their own plans for the future.

Denis J. Galligan is Professor of Socio-Legal Studies at Oxford University and Director of the Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal Studies.