empirical legal research essay

Search Menu
Browse content in Arts and Humanities
Browse content in Archaeology
Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Archaeology
Archaeological Methodology and Techniques
Archaeology by Region
Archaeology of Religion
Archaeology of Trade and Exchange
Biblical Archaeology
Contemporary and Public Archaeology
Environmental Archaeology
Historical Archaeology
History and Theory of Archaeology
Industrial Archaeology
Landscape Archaeology
Mortuary Archaeology
Prehistoric Archaeology
Underwater Archaeology
Urban Archaeology
Zooarchaeology
Browse content in Architecture
Architectural Structure and Design
History of Architecture
Residential and Domestic Buildings
Theory of Architecture
Browse content in Art
Art Subjects and Themes
History of Art
Industrial and Commercial Art
Theory of Art
Biographical Studies
Byzantine Studies
Browse content in Classical Studies
Classical Literature
Classical Reception
Classical History
Classical Philosophy
Classical Mythology
Classical Art and Architecture
Classical Oratory and Rhetoric
Greek and Roman Archaeology
Greek and Roman Papyrology
Greek and Roman Epigraphy
Greek and Roman Law
Late Antiquity
Religion in the Ancient World
Digital Humanities
Browse content in History
Colonialism and Imperialism
Diplomatic History
Environmental History
Genealogy, Heraldry, Names, and Honours
Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing
Historical Geography
History by Period
History of Agriculture
History of Education
History of Emotions
History of Gender and Sexuality
Industrial History
Intellectual History
International History
Labour History
Legal and Constitutional History
Local and Family History
Maritime History
Military History
National Liberation and Post-Colonialism
Oral History
Political History
Public History
Regional and National History
Revolutions and Rebellions
Slavery and Abolition of Slavery
Social and Cultural History
Theory, Methods, and Historiography
Urban History
World History
Browse content in Language Teaching and Learning
Language Learning (Specific Skills)
Language Teaching Theory and Methods
Browse content in Linguistics
Applied Linguistics
Cognitive Linguistics
Computational Linguistics
Forensic Linguistics
Grammar, Syntax and Morphology
Historical and Diachronic Linguistics
History of English
Language Variation
Language Families
Language Evolution
Language Reference
Language Acquisition
Lexicography
Linguistic Theories
Linguistic Typology
Linguistic Anthropology
Phonetics and Phonology
Psycholinguistics
Sociolinguistics
Translation and Interpretation
Writing Systems
Browse content in Literature
Bibliography
Children's Literature Studies
Literary Studies (Modernism)
Literary Studies (Romanticism)
Literary Studies (American)
Literary Studies (Asian)
Literary Studies (European)
Literary Studies (Eco-criticism)
Literary Studies - World
Literary Studies (1500 to 1800)
Literary Studies (19th Century)
Literary Studies (20th Century onwards)
Literary Studies (African American Literature)
Literary Studies (British and Irish)
Literary Studies (Early and Medieval)
Literary Studies (Fiction, Novelists, and Prose Writers)
Literary Studies (Gender Studies)
Literary Studies (Graphic Novels)
Literary Studies (History of the Book)
Literary Studies (Plays and Playwrights)
Literary Studies (Poetry and Poets)
Literary Studies (Postcolonial Literature)
Literary Studies (Queer Studies)
Literary Studies (Science Fiction)
Literary Studies (Travel Literature)
Literary Studies (War Literature)
Literary Studies (Women's Writing)
Literary Theory and Cultural Studies
Mythology and Folklore
Shakespeare Studies and Criticism
Browse content in Media Studies
Browse content in Music
Applied Music
Dance and Music
Ethics in Music
Ethnomusicology
Gender and Sexuality in Music
Medicine and Music
Music Cultures
Music and Culture
Music and Media
Music and Religion
Music Education and Pedagogy
Music Theory and Analysis
Musical Scores, Lyrics, and Libretti
Musical Structures, Styles, and Techniques
Musicology and Music History
Performance Practice and Studies
Race and Ethnicity in Music
Sound Studies
Browse content in Performing Arts
Browse content in Philosophy
Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art
Epistemology
Feminist Philosophy
History of Western Philosophy
Metaphysics
Moral Philosophy
Non-Western Philosophy
Philosophy of Action
Philosophy of Law
Philosophy of Religion
Philosophy of Language
Philosophy of Mind
Philosophy of Perception
Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic
Practical Ethics
Social and Political Philosophy
Browse content in Religion
Biblical Studies
Christianity
East Asian Religions
History of Religion
Judaism and Jewish Studies
Qumran Studies
Religion and Education
Religion and Health
Religion and Politics
Religion and Science
Religion and Law
Religion and Art, Literature, and Music
Religious Studies
Browse content in Society and Culture
Cookery, Food, and Drink
Cultural Studies
Customs and Traditions
Ethical Issues and Debates
Hobbies, Games, Arts and Crafts
Lifestyle, Home, and Garden
Natural world, Country Life, and Pets
Popular Beliefs and Controversial Knowledge
Sports and Outdoor Recreation
Technology and Society
Travel and Holiday
Visual Culture
Browse content in Law
Arbitration
Browse content in Company and Commercial Law
Commercial Law
Company Law
Browse content in Comparative Law
Systems of Law
Competition Law
Browse content in Constitutional and Administrative Law
Government Powers
Judicial Review
Local Government Law
Military and Defence Law
Parliamentary and Legislative Practice
Construction Law
Contract Law
Browse content in Criminal Law
Criminal Procedure
Criminal Evidence Law
Sentencing and Punishment
Employment and Labour Law
Environment and Energy Law
Browse content in Financial Law
Banking Law
Insolvency Law
History of Law
Human Rights and Immigration
Intellectual Property Law
Browse content in International Law
Private International Law and Conflict of Laws
Public International Law
IT and Communications Law
Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law
Law and Society
Law and Politics
Browse content in Legal System and Practice
Courts and Procedure
Legal Skills and Practice
Primary Sources of Law
Regulation of Legal Profession
Medical and Healthcare Law
Browse content in Policing
Criminal Investigation and Detection
Police and Security Services
Police Procedure and Law
Police Regional Planning
Browse content in Property Law
Personal Property Law
Study and Revision
Terrorism and National Security Law
Browse content in Trusts Law
Wills and Probate or Succession
Browse content in Medicine and Health
Browse content in Allied Health Professions
Arts Therapies
Clinical Science
Dietetics and Nutrition
Occupational Therapy
Operating Department Practice
Physiotherapy
Radiography
Speech and Language Therapy
Browse content in Anaesthetics
General Anaesthesia
Neuroanaesthesia
Clinical Neuroscience
Browse content in Clinical Medicine
Acute Medicine
Cardiovascular Medicine
Clinical Genetics
Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Dermatology
Endocrinology and Diabetes
Gastroenterology
Genito-urinary Medicine
Geriatric Medicine
Infectious Diseases
Medical Oncology
Medical Toxicology
Pain Medicine
Palliative Medicine
Rehabilitation Medicine
Respiratory Medicine and Pulmonology
Rheumatology
Sleep Medicine
Sports and Exercise Medicine
Community Medical Services
Critical Care
Emergency Medicine
Forensic Medicine
Haematology
History of Medicine
Medical Ethics
Browse content in Medical Skills
Clinical Skills
Communication Skills
Nursing Skills
Surgical Skills
Browse content in Medical Dentistry
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Paediatric Dentistry
Restorative Dentistry and Orthodontics
Surgical Dentistry
Medical Statistics and Methodology
Browse content in Neurology
Clinical Neurophysiology
Neuropathology
Nursing Studies
Browse content in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Gynaecology
Occupational Medicine
Ophthalmology
Otolaryngology (ENT)
Browse content in Paediatrics
Neonatology
Browse content in Pathology
Chemical Pathology
Clinical Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics
Histopathology
Medical Microbiology and Virology
Patient Education and Information
Browse content in Pharmacology
Psychopharmacology
Browse content in Popular Health
Caring for Others
Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Self-help and Personal Development
Browse content in Preclinical Medicine
Cell Biology
Molecular Biology and Genetics
Reproduction, Growth and Development
Primary Care
Professional Development in Medicine
Browse content in Psychiatry
Addiction Medicine
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Forensic Psychiatry
Learning Disabilities
Old Age Psychiatry
Psychotherapy
Browse content in Public Health and Epidemiology
Epidemiology
Public Health
Browse content in Radiology
Clinical Radiology
Interventional Radiology
Nuclear Medicine
Radiation Oncology
Reproductive Medicine
Browse content in Surgery
Cardiothoracic Surgery
Gastro-intestinal and Colorectal Surgery
General Surgery
Neurosurgery
Paediatric Surgery
Peri-operative Care
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Surgical Oncology
Transplant Surgery
Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery
Vascular Surgery
Browse content in Science and Mathematics
Browse content in Biological Sciences
Aquatic Biology
Biochemistry
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Developmental Biology
Ecology and Conservation
Evolutionary Biology
Genetics and Genomics
Microbiology
Molecular and Cell Biology
Natural History
Plant Sciences and Forestry
Research Methods in Life Sciences
Structural Biology
Systems Biology
Zoology and Animal Sciences
Browse content in Chemistry
Analytical Chemistry
Computational Chemistry
Crystallography
Environmental Chemistry
Industrial Chemistry
Inorganic Chemistry
Materials Chemistry
Medicinal Chemistry
Mineralogy and Gems
Organic Chemistry
Physical Chemistry
Polymer Chemistry
Study and Communication Skills in Chemistry
Theoretical Chemistry
Browse content in Computer Science
Artificial Intelligence
Computer Architecture and Logic Design
Game Studies
Human-Computer Interaction
Mathematical Theory of Computation
Programming Languages
Software Engineering
Systems Analysis and Design
Virtual Reality
Browse content in Computing
Business Applications
Computer Games
Computer Security
Computer Networking and Communications
Digital Lifestyle
Graphical and Digital Media Applications
Operating Systems
Browse content in Earth Sciences and Geography
Atmospheric Sciences
Environmental Geography
Geology and the Lithosphere
Maps and Map-making
Meteorology and Climatology
Oceanography and Hydrology
Palaeontology
Physical Geography and Topography
Regional Geography
Soil Science
Urban Geography
Browse content in Engineering and Technology
Agriculture and Farming
Biological Engineering
Civil Engineering, Surveying, and Building
Electronics and Communications Engineering
Energy Technology
Engineering (General)
Environmental Science, Engineering, and Technology
History of Engineering and Technology
Mechanical Engineering and Materials
Technology of Industrial Chemistry
Transport Technology and Trades
Browse content in Environmental Science
Applied Ecology (Environmental Science)
Conservation of the Environment (Environmental Science)
Environmental Sustainability
Environmentalist Thought and Ideology (Environmental Science)
Management of Land and Natural Resources (Environmental Science)
Natural Disasters (Environmental Science)
Nuclear Issues (Environmental Science)
Pollution and Threats to the Environment (Environmental Science)
Social Impact of Environmental Issues (Environmental Science)
History of Science and Technology
Browse content in Materials Science
Ceramics and Glasses
Composite Materials
Metals, Alloying, and Corrosion
Nanotechnology
Browse content in Mathematics
Applied Mathematics
Biomathematics and Statistics
History of Mathematics
Mathematical Education
Mathematical Finance
Mathematical Analysis
Numerical and Computational Mathematics
Probability and Statistics
Pure Mathematics
Browse content in Neuroscience
Cognition and Behavioural Neuroscience
Development of the Nervous System
Disorders of the Nervous System
History of Neuroscience
Invertebrate Neurobiology
Molecular and Cellular Systems
Neuroendocrinology and Autonomic Nervous System
Neuroscientific Techniques
Sensory and Motor Systems
Browse content in Physics
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
Biological and Medical Physics
Classical Mechanics
Computational Physics
Condensed Matter Physics
Electromagnetism, Optics, and Acoustics
History of Physics
Mathematical and Statistical Physics
Measurement Science
Nuclear Physics
Particles and Fields
Plasma Physics
Quantum Physics
Relativity and Gravitation
Semiconductor and Mesoscopic Physics
Browse content in Psychology
Affective Sciences
Clinical Psychology
Cognitive Neuroscience
Cognitive Psychology
Criminal and Forensic Psychology
Developmental Psychology
Educational Psychology
Evolutionary Psychology
Health Psychology
History and Systems in Psychology
Music Psychology
Neuropsychology
Organizational Psychology
Psychological Assessment and Testing
Psychology of Human-Technology Interaction
Psychology Professional Development and Training
Research Methods in Psychology
Social Psychology
Browse content in Social Sciences
Browse content in Anthropology
Anthropology of Religion
Human Evolution
Medical Anthropology
Physical Anthropology
Regional Anthropology
Social and Cultural Anthropology
Theory and Practice of Anthropology
Browse content in Business and Management
Business History
Business Ethics
Business Strategy
Business and Technology
Business and Government
Business and the Environment
Comparative Management
Corporate Governance
Corporate Social Responsibility
Entrepreneurship
Health Management
Human Resource Management
Industrial and Employment Relations
Industry Studies
Information and Communication Technologies
International Business
Knowledge Management
Management and Management Techniques
Operations Management
Organizational Theory and Behaviour
Pensions and Pension Management
Public and Nonprofit Management
Strategic Management
Supply Chain Management
Browse content in Criminology and Criminal Justice
Criminal Justice
Criminology
Forms of Crime
International and Comparative Criminology
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
Development Studies
Browse content in Economics
Agricultural, Environmental, and Natural Resource Economics
Asian Economics
Behavioural Finance
Behavioural Economics and Neuroeconomics
Econometrics and Mathematical Economics
Economic Methodology
Economic History
Economic Systems
Economic Development and Growth
Financial Markets
Financial Institutions and Services
General Economics and Teaching
Health, Education, and Welfare
History of Economic Thought
International Economics
Labour and Demographic Economics
Law and Economics
Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics
Microeconomics
Public Economics
Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics
Welfare Economics
Browse content in Education
Adult Education and Continuous Learning
Care and Counselling of Students
Early Childhood and Elementary Education
Educational Equipment and Technology
Educational Strategies and Policy
Higher and Further Education
Organization and Management of Education
Philosophy and Theory of Education
Schools Studies
Secondary Education
Teaching of a Specific Subject
Teaching of Specific Groups and Special Educational Needs
Teaching Skills and Techniques
Browse content in Environment
Applied Ecology (Social Science)
Climate Change
Conservation of the Environment (Social Science)
Environmentalist Thought and Ideology (Social Science)
Natural Disasters (Environment)
Social Impact of Environmental Issues (Social Science)
Browse content in Human Geography
Cultural Geography
Economic Geography
Political Geography
Browse content in Interdisciplinary Studies
Communication Studies
Museums, Libraries, and Information Sciences
Browse content in Politics
African Politics
Asian Politics
Chinese Politics
Comparative Politics
Conflict Politics
Elections and Electoral Studies
Environmental Politics
European Union
Foreign Policy
Gender and Politics
Human Rights and Politics
Indian Politics
International Relations
International Organization (Politics)
International Political Economy
Irish Politics
Latin American Politics
Middle Eastern Politics
Political Theory
Political Behaviour
Political Economy
Political Institutions
Political Methodology
Political Communication
Political Philosophy
Political Sociology
Politics and Law
Public Policy
Public Administration
Quantitative Political Methodology
Regional Political Studies
Russian Politics
Security Studies
State and Local Government
UK Politics
US Politics
Browse content in Regional and Area Studies
African Studies
Asian Studies
East Asian Studies
Japanese Studies
Latin American Studies
Middle Eastern Studies
Native American Studies
Scottish Studies
Browse content in Research and Information
Research Methods
Browse content in Social Work
Addictions and Substance Misuse
Adoption and Fostering
Care of the Elderly
Child and Adolescent Social Work
Couple and Family Social Work
Developmental and Physical Disabilities Social Work
Direct Practice and Clinical Social Work
Emergency Services
Human Behaviour and the Social Environment
International and Global Issues in Social Work
Mental and Behavioural Health
Social Justice and Human Rights
Social Policy and Advocacy
Social Work and Crime and Justice
Social Work Macro Practice
Social Work Practice Settings
Social Work Research and Evidence-based Practice
Welfare and Benefit Systems
Browse content in Sociology
Childhood Studies
Community Development
Comparative and Historical Sociology
Economic Sociology
Gender and Sexuality
Gerontology and Ageing
Health, Illness, and Medicine
Marriage and the Family
Migration Studies
Occupations, Professions, and Work
Organizations
Population and Demography
Race and Ethnicity
Social Theory
Social Movements and Social Change
Social Research and Statistics
Social Stratification, Inequality, and Mobility
Sociology of Religion
Sociology of Education
Sport and Leisure
Urban and Rural Studies
Browse content in Warfare and Defence
Defence Strategy, Planning, and Research
Land Forces and Warfare
Military Administration
Military Life and Institutions
Naval Forces and Warfare
Other Warfare and Defence Issues
Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution
Weapons and Equipment

The Oxford Handbook of Empirical Legal Research

< Previous
Next chapter >

Introduction

Peter Cane is Senior Research Fellow at Christ’s College, Cambridge and Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Law at the Australian National University

Herbert Kritzer is the Marvin J. Sonosky Chair of Law and Public Policy at the University of Minnesota Law School. He is Professor of Political Science and Law emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has published numerous articles and several books, including Risks, Reputations, and Rewards (Stanford UP: 2004) and is the co-editor, with Susan Silbey, of In Litigation: Do the 'Haves' Still Come Out Ahead? (Stanford UP: 2003).

Published: 18 September 2012
Cite Icon Cite
Permissions Icon Permissions

The Introduction starts by discussing the history of Empirical Legal Studies (ELS). It explains how the editors came about compiling this book. It talks about interest in empirical legal research and how it is not confimed to the United States, the UK or common law countries. Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Israel, Russia, and Japan are mentioned. This book aims to provide succinct discussions and analyses of debates, controversies, methods, and trends in scholarship that are original and searching but also easily accessible. The Introduction goes on to explain the perspective taken and coverage given in this book.

I n the American legal academy, empirical research gained contemporary prominence in the late 1990s. The early years of the first decade of the twenty-first century saw the emergence and rapid development of a movement that labeled itself “Empirical Legal Studies” (ELS). In the original proposal for this volume its title referred to “empirical legal studies.” However, as the project evolved we decided against associating it with ELS in particular. We thought it important explicitly to acknowledge the diversity of approaches to and sites of empirical investigation of law, legal systems, and other legal phenomena. In particular, there are at least three approaches and research groupings that predate the contemporary ELS movement, which may be respectively identified as socio-legal/law and society (an interdisciplinary movement with strong roots in sociology but including scholars from a wide range of traditional disciplines including law), empirically oriented law-and-economics, and judicial behavior /politics. While some researchers working in these traditions see themselves as part of the new ELS community, many others do not. The phrase “empirical legal research” in the title, The Oxford Handbook of Empirical Legal Research , is designed both to reflect and to celebrate the healthy pluralism of empirical approaches to the study of law and legal phenomena.

American legal realists were, perhaps, the first to appreciate the value and importance of, and to promote, study of “law in action” as opposed to “law on (or ‘in’) the books.” As described in Chapter 36 of this book, the earliest work in the United States included crime surveys in the 1920s and 1930s, and studies in the 1930s of court dockets and auto accident compensation. The genesis of empirically based studies of judicial behavior is commonly traced to the pioneering work of C. Hermann Pritchett in the late 1940s. Jury studies gained prominence through the Chicago jury project led by Harry Kalven and Hans Zeisel in the 1950s. In Britain, a major event in the development of empirical legal research was the establishment in 1972 of the ESRC-funded Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal Studies. The British Journal of Law and Society , now simply the Journal of Law and Society , first appeared two years later. At around the same time, the Royal Commission on Civil Liability and Compensation for Personal Injury, popularly known as the Pearson Commission, commissioned the first large-scale empirical investigation of the civil justice system in England and Wales, and this was soon followed by the work of the Royal Commission on Legal Services (the “Benson Commission”). The Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA) was founded in 1990 to enable socio-legal scholars to meet and disseminate their work, much of which is empirical. The UK Home Office (like the U.S. Department of Justice) has been a major funder of research into the criminal justice system since the 1970s. UK universities now host various multi-disciplinary empirical legal research centres. In the United States, early centers of contemporary empirically oriented legal research included the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and the American Bar Foundation (with links to both Northwestern University and the University of Chicago). The Law and Society Association was founded in 1964, and the Law & Society Review , the journal of the Association, began publication in 1967. The Law and Courts section of the American Political Science Association was established around 1982. In recent years a growing number of U.S. law schools have attracted groups of empirically oriented scholars.

While empirical research on legal phenomena can be found throughout the twentieth century, in very recent years—as already noted—there has been a marked increase in the vibrancy of empirical legal research, particularly within the U.S. legal academy. In 2004 the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies was established, edited at Cornell Law School. This journal was designed specifically to appeal to legal academics doing or interested in empirical research. The First Annual Conference of Empirical Legal Studies was held at the University of Texas Law School in October 2006, and the ELS conference is now an annual event. The situation in the UK is somewhat different. November 2006 saw the publication of the Report of The Nuffield Inquiry on Empirical Legal Research entitled Law in the Real World: Improving our Understanding of How Law Works and written by Professor Dame Hazel Genn and Professors Martin Partington and Sally Wheeler. The motivation for the inquiry was a concern that despite high levels of activity in the empirical legal research community, there are not enough producers of empirical legal research in the UK to meet current and likely future demand, and that there may not be a “robust successor generation of trained empirical legal researchers” available to take the place of senior scholars likely to retire in the next decade or so. Although the report focused on research on the civil rather than the criminal side, it witnesses a perception of the growing importance of empirical legal research in all areas.

A lively interest in empirical legal research is by no means confined to the United States and the UK or to common law countries. There are active communities of empirical legal scholars in Australia and Canada. In the civil law world, empirical legal research conducted over the last 20 years or so can be found in a number of countries including the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Israel, Russia, and Japan. International organizations such as the World Bank have sponsored empirical legal research in various countries (e.g., Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Georgia, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, and Russia) in pursuit of the goal of improving legal systems as a means of encouraging economic investment and reducing poverty.

A feature of every truly successful intellectual movement is the ability to communicate its core ideas and methods, and the nature and significance of its achievements, to a wide audience beyond the movement's active practitioners. This is a task to which the broad community of empirical legal researchers has not so far devoted as much energy as it deserves. One of the important points made in the Nuffield Report is that there is no strong culture of empirical legal training and research in UK law schools. This is partly because there is a lack of empirical legal literature directed to “mainstream” legal scholars, many of whom remain more or less ignorant of the importance and value of empirical research and may find empirical legal scholarship difficult and somewhat mysterious. More generally, the lack of a widely appealing and accessible literature helps to explain why empirical legal research has a low profile in the UK legal academy and (except on the criminal side) is almost entirely absent from the law school curriculum. In the United States, law schools are just beginning to think about how empirical legal research activities can be integrated into the law school curriculum; and while texts on law and social science have been around since at least 1969, the first law school text intended specifically for courses on empirical legal studies, Empirical Methods in Law by Robert M. Lawless, Jennifer K. Robbennolt, and Thomas S. Ulen, appeared in late 2009.

Our aspiration is that this volume should make a significant contribution to informing and educating both scholars (whatever their disciplinary identification and in whatever research tradition they operate) and students—especially law students—about empirical legal research. It also aims to provide scholars who may be interested in undertaking empirical research about law with inspiration and resources for attempting the difficult transition from doctrinal or theoretical, library-based research to empirical research. More than that, we hope and expect that the book will find an audience beyond the academy in government, the public policy sector and the wider community.

The Oxford Handbook of Empirical Legal Research has been designed to promote a prime aim of the Oxford Handbook series, which is to provide succinct discussions and analyses of debates, controversies, methods, and trends in scholarship that are original and searching but also easily accessible to readers who are less familiar with the particular subject area. Handbooks aspire to challenge and stimulate the experienced and knowledgeable while at the same time informing and inspiring the uninitiated and the less experienced. Of course, there is already a large body of empirical legal literature, but on the whole it reports the results of particular empirical research projects, and its typical target audience consists of other empirical scholars. There is little truly outward-looking literature that aims to educate and inform a wider audience and to encourage the development of empirical research skills and activity by celebrating the achievements of empirical legal scholarship. This Handbook is designed to start the process of filling this gap in the literature.

It is important to say something about how we understand the term “empirical.” Many of those associated with the ELS movement that originated in the United States at the beginning of the twenty-first century equate empirical work with research that employs statistical and other quantitative methods. However, this understanding is by no means universal, and empirical legal research employing a mix of qualitative and quantitative social science methodologies long predates the contemporary ELS movement. Interestingly, the strongest advocates of equating “empirical” with “quantitative” are scholars within law faculties, many of whom lack advanced training in social science. Among those with social science training, whether in law faculties or social science faculties, “empirical” is usually understood to include both quantitative and qualitative approaches. This is not to say that some scholars trained in social science do not have strong preferences as between qualitative and quantitative approaches. However, while social science departments have long included statistics and quantitative research methods courses in their curriculums, in the past 20 years the number of courses devoted to qualitative methods has increased significantly in U.S. social science departments, particularly in the fields of sociology and political science.

In this volume, we have adopted a broad perspective on what constitutes “empirical” legal research. Specifically, we have sought to include both quantitative and qualitative social science research within the label “empirical legal research.” Nonetheless, readers of this Handbook will find that quantitative research dominates in many of the chapters (and that some chapters refer exclusively to quantitative research). To some extent, this dominance reflects the preferences of individual authors, but it is also a function of the nature of existing empirical research in particular areas.

For our purposes, “empirical” research involves the systematic collection of information (“data”) and its analysis according to some generally accepted method. Of central importance is the systematic nature of the process, both of collecting and analyzing the information. The information can come from a wide range of sources including surveys, documents, reporting systems, observation, interviews, experiments, decisions, and events. While the data can be retained as text or images, systematic analysis will often involve coding or tagging units of text or images using symbols that may or may not have numeric properties (in the sense that they can be manipulated algebraically, or compared in terms of absolute or relative size). The analysis can involve simple counting, sophisticated statistical manipulation, grouping into like sets, identification of sequences (in some circumstances called “process tracing”), matching of patterns, or simple labelling of themes. Ultimately, the analyst engages in a process of interpreting the results of the analysis in order to link those results to the question motivating the research. In some instances the interpretation flows clearly from the results, but in others it is more fragile and reflects not only the results of the analysis but also other information that the analyst brings to the work.

We have deliberately omitted from the project two categories of work that some might argue fall within the concept of “empirical” research we have described above. The first category comprises traditional historical studies. We have omitted legal history from the Handbook simply because it is a discrete, long-established field of research with its own norms, methodologies, and standards. Some empirical legal researchers use historical materials and may employ historiographical methods, but they tend not to label what they are doing as “legal history”. Typically such research begins with an hypothesis of the sort associated with social science and uses historical information as its data.

The second category of research we have omitted is traditional analysis of formal legal documents—primarily court decisions (“cases”) and legislative materials. One reason for omitting such work is that scholars who work primarily with documentary legal materials typically describe what they do as “legal analysis” rather than “empirical legal research.” Conversely, scholars who describe their research as “empirical” would typically not regard traditional legal analysis as empirical. Of course, this distinction between analytical and empirical legal research is not clear-cut, and there are many examples of scholarship that straddle the line between the two by going beyond the formal legal documents themselves to examine their broader social, economic and political context and operation. Conversely, formal legal documents may provide relevant data for empirical investigation of certain legal phenomena such as judicial behavior. If the relationship between analytical and empirical research is understood as a spectrum, this volume concentrates on work at the empirical end of that spectrum. Another reason for not including traditional analytical legal scholarship is that this genre of research is the subject matter of The Oxford Handbook of Legal Studies (2003).

In fairness to our authors, we need to say something about the brief they were given. They were asked to provide not surveys of the available research or literature reviews but rather concise, original, and critical discussions of work that they consider to have made a significant contribution to our understanding of the various topics covered in the Handbook . They were also asked to identify gaps in the extant body of research and possible topics for future research. Because this book is aimed at an international audience, our contributors were encouraged to cast their nets widely and not limit discussion to research done in their own country or concerned with their own legal system. That said, the common-law, English-speaking world has so far produced much more empirical legal research than the civil law world; and within the common law world, much more empirical research has been produced in the United States than anywhere else. These facts are reflected both in the list of contributors and in the substance of the various contributions. The reasons the United States dominates in this area (as in so many others) are, no doubt, various and complex. One may be that law is a graduate school in the U.S. tertiary education system, and the number of law faculty members holding both JDs and PhDs in some other discipline (particularly one of the social sciences) has risen sharply over the last 15 years. Another obvious explanation is that because courts in the United States are understood to be essentially political institutions, U.S. political scientists are much more interested in judges and judicial behavior than their counterparts in the rest of the common law world: Law and Courts is one of the largest Sections of the American Political Science Association. This general topic is one that deserves much more attention than it receives in this volume.

More technically, authors were asked to reduce the number of footnotes to an absolute minimum, and to write as accessibly as possible for the non-specialist reader. The Handbook is meant primarily not for established producers of empirical legal research but for consumers, potential consumers and aspiring producers. Contributors were expected to observe allocated word limits, which reflect arguably contestable editorial judgments about the relative quantity, significance and vibrancy of research in particular areas. It should also be emphasized that authors were asked to refer by name to no more than 50 pieces of scholarship. Some found this limitation irksome and challenging, although in the end all managed to work within or close to it. The rationales for the limit were to encourage contributors to give their own personal account of scholarship in their area and to relieve them of the need to be comprehensive or “balanced.” We wanted them to identify themes and trends rather than to recount or focus on individual pieces of research. Inevitably, there will be considerable room for disagreement about the items that should or should not have been included in the lists of references in the various chapters, and also about the various authors' perspectives on the bodies of research they discuss. The lists of references should not be thought of as encapsulating the authors' answers to some question such as “what are the fifty most important pieces of empirical research in your area?” Rather, the references will most likely have been chosen for their aptness to support the particular argument an author has chosen to make about scholarship in the field.

In planning the Handbook we tried to ensure coverage of all areas and legal phenomena on which a significant amount of empirical legal research has been conducted and reported. Inevitably, however, there are topics that might have been included but which did not make it into the book, some as a result of a judgment on our part that there did not seem to be a sufficient body of empirical work to warrant extended treatment, some because we did not think of them at the time we planned the volume, and some simply because we could not include everything.

One topic omitted because of lack of a body of relevant empirical research is antitrust/competition law. Interestingly, this is an area where empirical research is regularly employed to assess whether violations of law have occurred and to determine damages for such violations. There is a small body of literature about how to conduct empirical analyses for such use. However, we were unable to locate a substantial body of empirical research on the application or impact of antitrust/competition law, and hence we decided not to include a chapter on this topic. A second topic, which in retrospect we might have included, is legal consciousness, perhaps coupled with the closely related topic of legal culture. Both topics make an appearance in several chapters, but none is devoted entirely to them even though there is probably a sufficient literature to have justified a chapter, as well as a growing interest in the study of legal consciousness and how it can yield insights into legal culture.

A third area that, with the benefit of hindsight, was a strong contender for inclusion is insurance and insurance law. In practice, insurance is central to the operation of the law of personal injury compensation (which receives some attention in the chapter on personal injury litigation). However, it is also important in various other areas including corporate malfeasance, professional regulation, social welfare law, and environmental law. Moreover, insurance companies are themselves heavily regulated, and hence research on the success or failure of such regulation is of considerable significance.

Other topics that might have been covered include election law; intellectual property (patents, copyright, and trademark), and, more broadly, the interface between law, and science and technology; and tax law. We planned a chapter on the use of empirical methodologies in program and policy evaluation, but in the end were not able to include it. Individual readers will, perhaps, be able to identify other significant omissions. We accept full responsibility for inclusions and omissions while reiterating that this volume is intended as a first contribution to the promotion and wider dissemination of empirical legal research rather than the last word.

Our sincere thanks are due to John Louth, who was extremely supportive in the early planning stages, and to Alex Flach, who took over responsibility from John in the course of the project. We owe very special thanks the Ros Wallington who, as ever, provided efficient and cheerful administrative support; and to all those involved in the production of this major undertaking. But above all, we are indebted to those without whom this volume could not have been produced—our authors—not only for their excellent contributions but also for their patient and flexible responses to our numerous editorial demands and high expectations.

Peter Cane and Herbert M. Kritzer

Canberra and Minneapolis

February 2010

About Oxford Academic
Publish journals with us
University press partners
What we publish
New features
Open access
Institutional account management
Rights and permissions
Get help with access
Accessibility
Advertising
Media enquiries
Oxford University Press
Oxford Languages
University of Oxford

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide

Copyright © 2024 Oxford University Press
Cookie settings
Cookie policy
Privacy policy
Legal notice

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Harvard Empirical Legal Studies Series

5005 Wasserstein Hall (WCC) 1585 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA02138

Contact the Graduate Program

The Harvard Empirical Legal Studies (HELS) Series explores a range of empirical methods, both qualitative and quantitative, and their application in legal scholarship in different areas of the law. It is a platform for engaging with current empirical research, hearing from leading scholars working in a variety of fields, and developing ideas and empirical projects.

HELS is open to all students and scholars with an interest in empirical research. No prior background in empirical legal research is necessary. If you would like to join HELS and receive information about our sessions, please subscribe to our mailing list by completing the HELS mailing list form .

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact the current HELS coordinator, Tiran Bajgiran.

All times are provided in U.S. Eastern Time (UTC/GMT-0400).

Spring 2024 Sessions

Empire and the shaping of american constitutional law.

Aziz Rana, BC Law

Monday, Mar. 25, 12:15 PM Lewis 202

This talk will explore how US imperial practice has influenced the methods and boundaries of American constitutional study.

Historical Approaches to Neoliberal Legality

Quinn Slobodian, Boston University

Thursday, Mar. 28, 12:15 PM Lewis 202

Fall 2023 Sessions

On critical quantitative methods.

Hendrik Theine , WU, Vienna/Univ. of Pennsylvania Monday, Nov. 6, 12:30 PM Lewis 202

Economic inequality is a profound challenge in the United States. Both income and wealth inequality increased remarkably since the 1980s. This growing concentration of economic inequality creates real-world political and societal problems which are increasingly reflected by social science scholarship. Among those detriments is for instance the increasing economic and political power of the super-rich. The research at hand takes a new radical look at media discourses of economic inequality over four decades in various elite US newspapers by way of quantitative critical discourse analysis. It shows that up until recently, there was minimal media coverage of economic inequality, but interest has steadily increased since then. Initially, the focus was primarily on income inequality, but over time, it has expanded to encompass broader issues of inequality. Notably, the discourse on economic inequality is significantly influenced by party politics and elections. The study also highlights certain limitations in the discourse. Critiques of inequality tend to remain at a general level, discussing concepts like capitalist and racial inequality. There is relatively less focus on policy-related discussions, such as tax reform, or discussions centered around specific actors, like the wealthy and their charitable contributions.

Spring 2023 Sessions

How to conduct qualitative empirical legal scholarship.

Jessica Silbey , Professor of Law at Boston University Yanakakis Faculty Research Scholar

Friday, March 31, 12:30 PM WCC 3034

This session explores the benefits and some limitations of qualitative research methods to study intellectual property law. It compares quantitative research methods and the economic analysis of law in the same field as other kinds of empirical inquiry that are helpful in collaboration but limited in isolation. Creativity and innovation, the practices intellectual property law purports to regulate, are not amenable to quantification without identifying qualitative variables. The lessons from this session apply across fields of legal research.

Fall 2022 Sessions

How to read quantitative empirical legal scholarship.

Holger Spamann , Lawrence R. Grove Professor of Law

Friday, September 13, 12:30 PM WCC 3007

As legal scholars, what tools do we need to read critically and engage productively with quantitative empirical scholarship? In the first session of the 2022-2023 Harvard Empirical Legal Studies Series, Harvard Law School Professor Holger Spamann will compare and discuss different quantitative studies. This session will be a first approximation to be able to understand and eventually produce empirical legal scholarship. All students and scholars interested in empirical research are welcome and encouraged to attend.

How do People Learn from Not Being Caught? An Experimental Investigation of a “Non-Occurrence Bias”

Tom Zur , John M. Olin Fellow and SJD candidate, HLS

Friday, November 4, 2:00 PM WCC 3007

The law and economics literature on specific deterrence has long theorized that offenders rationally learn from being caught and sanctioned. This paper presents evidence from a randomized controlled trial showing that offenders learn differently when not being caught as compared to being caught, which we call a “non-occurrence bias.” This implies that the socially optimal level of investment in law enforcement should be lower than stipulated by rational choice theory, even on grounds of deterrence alone.

Empirical Legal Research: Using Data and Methodology to Craft a Research Agenda

Florencia Marotta-Wurgler , NYU Boxer Family Professor of Law Faculty Director, NYU Law in Buenos Aires

Monday, November 14, 12:30 PM Lewis 202

Using a series of examples, this discussion will focus on strategies to conduct empirical legal research and develop a robust research agenda. Topics will include creating a data set and leveraging to answer unexplored questions, developing meaningful methodologies to address legal questions, building on existing work to develop a robust research agenda, and engaging the process of automation and scaling up to develop large scale data sets using machine learning approaches.

Resources for Empirical Research

HLS Library Empirical Research Service
Harvard Institute for Quantitative Social Research (IQSS)
Harvard Committee on the Use of Human Subjects
Qualtrics Harvard
Harvard Kennedy School Behavioral Insights Group

Past HELS Sessions

Holger Spamann (Lawrence R. Grove Professor of Law) – How to Read Quantitative Empirical Legal Scholarship?

Katerina Linos (Professor of Law at UC Berkeley School of Law) – Qualitative Methods for Law Review Writing

Aziza Ahmed (Professor of Law at UC Irvine School of Law) – Risk and Rage: How Feminists Transformed the Law and Science of AIDS

Amy Kapczynski and Yochai Benkler –(Professor of Law at Yale; Professor of Law at Harvard) Law & Political Economy and the Question of Method

Jessica Silbey – (Boston University School of Law) Ethnography in Legal Scholarship

Roberto Tallarita – (Lecturer on Law, and Associate Director of the Program on Corporate Governance at Harvard) The Limits of Portfolio Primacy

Susan S. Silbey – (Leon and Anne Goldberg Professor of Humanities, Sociology and Anthropology at MIT) HELS with Susan Silbey: Analyzing Ethnographic Data and Producting New Theory

Cass R. Sunstein (University Professor at Harvard) – Optimal Sludge? The Price of Program Integrity

Scott L. Cummings (Professor of Legal Ethics and Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law) – The Making of Public Interest Lawyers

Elliot Ash (Assistant Professor of Law, Economics, and Data Science at ETH Zürich) – Gender Attitudes in the Judiciary: Evidence from U.S. Circuit Courts

Kathleen Thelen (Ford Professor of Political Science at MIT) – Employer Organization in the United States: Historical Legacies and the Long Shadow of the American Courts

Omer Kimhi (Associate Professor at Haifa University Law School) – Caught In a Circle of Debt – Consumer Bankruptcy Discharge and Its Aftereffects

Suresh Naidu (Professor in Economics and International and Public Affairs, Columbia School of International and Public Affairs) – Ideas Have Consequences: The Impact of Law and Economics on American Justice

Vardit Ravitsky (Full Professor at the Bioethics Program, School of Public Health, University of Montreal) – Empirical Bioethics: The Example of Research on Prenatal Testing

Johnnie Lotesta (Postdoctoral Democracy Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School) – Opinion Crafting and the Making of U.S. Labor Law in the States

David Hagmann (Harvard Kennedy School) – The Agent-Selection Dilemma in Distributive Bargaining

Cass R. Sunstein (Harvard Law School) – Rear Visibility and Some Problems for Economic Analysis (with Particular Reference to Experience Goods)

Talia Gillis (Ph.D. Candidate and S.J.D. Candidate, Harvard Business School and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Harvard Law School) – False Dreams of Algorithmic Fairness: The Case of Credit Pricing

Tzachi Raz (Ph.D. Candidate in Economics at Harvard University) – There’s No Such Thing as Free Land: The Homestead Act and Economic Development

Crystal Yang (Harvard Law School) – Fear and the Safety Net: Evidence from Secure Communities

Adaner Usmani (Harvard Sociology) – The Origins of Mass Incarceration

Jim Greiner (Harvard Law School) – Randomized Control Trials in the Legal Profession

Talia Shiff (Postdoctoral Fellow, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and Department of Sociology, Harvard University) – Legal Standards and Moral Worth in Frontline Decision-Making: Evaluations of Victimization in US Asylum Determinations

Francesca Gino (Harvard Business School) – Rebel Talent

Joscha Legewie (Department of Sociology, Harvard University) – The Effects of Policing on Educational Outcomes and Health of Minority Youth

Ryan D. Enos (Department of Government, Harvard University) – The Space Between Us: Social Geography and Politics

Katerina Linos (Berkeley Law, University of California) – How Technology Transforms Refugee Law

Roie Hauser (Visiting Researcher at the Program on Corporate Governance, Harvard Law School) – Term Length and the Role of Independent Directors in Acquisitions

Anina Schwarzenbach (Fellow, National Security Program, the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School) – A Challenge to Legitimacy: Effects of Stop-and-Search Police Contacts on Young People’s Relations with the Police

Cass R. Sunstein (Harvard Law School) – Willingness to Pay to Use Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Snapchat, and More: A National Survey

Netta Barak-Corren (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) – The War Within

James Greiner & Holger Spamann (Harvard Law School) – Panel: Why Does the Legal Profession Resist Rigorous Empiricism?

Mila Versteeg (University of Virginia School of Law) (with Adam Chilton) – Do Constitutional Rights Make a Difference?

Susan S. Silbey (MIT Department of Anthropology) (with Patricia Ewick) – The Common Place of Law

Holger Spamann (Harvard Law School) – Empirical Legal Studies: What They Are and How NOT to Do Them

Arevik Avedian (Harvard Law School) – How to Read an Empirical Paper in Law

James Greiner (Harvard Law School) – Randomized Experiments in the Law

Robert MacCoun (Stanford Law School) – Coping with Rapidly Changing Standards and Practices in the Empirical Sciences (including ELS)

Mario Small (Harvard Department of Sociology) – Qualitative Research in the Big Data Era

Adam Chilton (University of Chicago Law School) – Trade Openness and Antitrust Law

Jennifer Lerner (Harvard Kennedy School and Department of Psychology) – Anger in Legal Decision Making

Sarah Dryden-Peterson (Harvard Graduate School of Education) – Respect, Reciprocity, and Relationships in Interview-Based Research

Charles Wang (Harvard Business School) – Natural Experiments and Court Rulings

Guhan Subramanian (Harvard Law School) – Determining Fair Value

James Greiner (Harvard Law School) – Randomized Control Trials and the Impact of Legal Aid

Maya Sen (Harvard Kennedy School) – The Political Ideologies of Law Clerks and their Judges

Daria Roithmayr (University of Southern California Law School) – The Dynamics of Police Violence

Crystal Yang (Harvard Law School) – Empiricism in the Service of Criminal Law and Theory

Oren Bar-Gill (Harvard Law School) – Is Empirical Legal Studies Changing Law and Economics?

Elizabeth Linos (Harvard Kennedy School; VP, Head of Research and Evaluation, North America, Behavioral Insights Team) – Behavioral Law and Economics in Action: BIT, BIG, and the policymaking of choice architecture

Meira Levinson (Harvard School of Education) – Justice in Schools: Qualitative Sociological Research and Normative Ethics in Schools

Howell Jackson (HLS) – Cost-Benefit Analysis

Michael Heise (Cornell Law School) – Quantitative Research in Law: An Introductory Workshop

Susan Silbey (MIT) – Interviews: An Introductory Workshop

Kevin Quinn (UC Berkeley) – Quantifying Judicial Decisions

Holger Spamman (Harvard Law School) – Comparative Empirical Research

James Greiner (Harvard Law School) – Randomized Controlled Trials in the Research of Legal Problems

Michael Heise (Cornell Law School) – Quantitative Research in Law

James Greiner (Harvard Law School) – A Typology of Empirical Methods in Law

David Wilkins (Harvard Law School) – Mixed Methods Work and the Legal Profession

Tom Tyler (Yale Law School) – Fairness and Policing

Modal Gallery

Stanford Law School | Robert Crown Law Library

Empirical Legal Research Resources

Statistics and Datasets
Journals and Law Reviews

Selected Treatises: How to Conduct Empirical Legal Research

Representative empirical legal research works.

Data Analytics Help and Resources at Stanford
Current Awareness and Training Resources
Bulk Download Availability

Ask us anything!

Law librarians and library staff are available to help you find your way around the library and its legal materials, provide research support, and assist you in locating materials that are not in our library. You can find the latest information about our hours and services on the library homepage . There are several ways to contact us:

[email protected]
Recommend a Resource

In Person : The Borrowing Services Desk and Reference Office are on the main floor of the law library. Online and in-person appointments with the reference staff can be made from the library homepage .

Borrowing Services Desk: (650) 723-2477 Reference Desk: (650) 725-0800

This page contains a selected list of major treatises on conducting empirical legal research, as well as a selection of books that demonstrate how some scholars use empirical legal research in their writing. You may find more works on the topic using subject headings, such as "legal research -- methodology," in Searchworks , the Stanford Library catalog.

<< Previous: Journals and Law Reviews
Next: Data Analytics Help and Resources at Stanford >>
Last Updated: Dec 15, 2023 1:06 PM
URL: https://guides.law.stanford.edu/empiricallegalresearch

Stanford Home
Maps & Directions
Search Stanford
Emergency Info
Terms of Use
Non-Discrimination
Accessibility

Prospective Students
Admitted Students
COVID-19 Updates

CLS Community

Journal of Empirical Legal Studies
CELS Conferences
SELS Global
SELS Fellows
SELS Membership
SELS Resources
Contact SELS

The Journal of Empirical Legal Studies is a peer-edited, peer-refereed, interdisciplinary journal that publishes high-quality, empirically-oriented articles of interest to scholars in a diverse range of law and law-related fields, including civil justice, corporate law, criminal justice, domestic relations, economic, finance, health care, political science, psychology, public policy, securities regulation, and sociology. Both experimental and nonexperimental data analysis are welcome, as are law-related empirical studies from around the world.

JELS Information

JELS Home Page

Subscriber Services

Editorial Board of JELS

Journal Rankings

Contact JELS

Author Guidelines For Manuscript Submission:

What to submit: 2 copies of your manuscript, one with all identifying references removed. These may be Microsoft Word or PDF files, and should be sent via email to [email protected] . All tables and figures should be included and not submitted as separate documents. Authors who prefer to submit by mail should contact [email protected] for instructions.

Manuscript format: Authors may submit papers in any format. Authors of accepted papers are asked to format their work according to the following guidelines. Accepted manuscripts shall employ APA Style for references and citations with most references in text in parentheticals and a bibliography at the end of the article.

Specific editorial conventions of which authors should be aware are:

Headings in the body of an article follow the style of Roman numeral, capital letter, numeral, lower case letter.
The first footnote is unnumbered, contains author information, and any thank you messages, etc. As a matter of JELS editorial board policy, we strongly recommend that the corresponding author footnote on page 1 contain the following statement: “Data necessary to replicate the results of this article are available upon request from the corresponding author.”
There are three preferred formats for digital artwork submission: Encapsulated PostScript (EPS), and Tagged Image Format (TIFF). We suggest that line art be saved as EPS files. Alternately, these may be saved as PDF files at 600 dots per inch (dpi) or better at final size. Tone art, or photographic images, should be saved as TIFF files with a resolution of 300 dpi at final size. For combination figures, or artwork that contains both photographs and labeling, we recommend saving figures as EPS files, or as PDF files with a resolution of 600 dpi or better at final size.

Further information may be found on our publisher’s website here.

Simultaneous submission policy: Simultaneous submission of papers to JELS and other journals is permitted. JELS , however, requires that if a submission is accepted for publication in JELS before acceptance by another journal, the author commits to publishing the article in JELS . Thus, if JELS accepts an article before other journals have acted, the author must publish in JELS . If an author receives an acceptance before JELS has acted, the author is free to withdraw the submission from JELS , or to request an expedited review from JELS . Please contact JELS for details.

Send manuscripts and inquiries about editorial matters to:

Editor Journal of Empirical Legal Studies Cornell Law School Myron Taylor Hall Ithaca, New York 14853

or electronically: [email protected] .

NEW: Online production tracking is now available for your article through Blackwell’s Author Services. Author Services enables authors to track their article – once it has been accepted – through the production process to publication online and in print. Authors can check the status of their articles online and choose to receive automated e-mails at key stages of production so they don’t need to contact the production editor to check on progress. Visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/bauthor for more details on online production tracking and for a wealth of resources including FAQs and tips on article preparation, submission and more.

Conflict of Interest: Authors are expected to disclose any commercial or other associations that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with a submitted article. All funding sources supporting the work, and institutional or corporate affiliations of the authors, should be acknowledged in a * footnote on the first page of the article. Articles are considered for publication on the understanding that neither the article nor its essential substance has been or will be published elsewhere before appearing in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies. Abstracts, online working papers, and press reports are not considered as publications for purposes of this policy.

Install this web app to your home screen: click the icon and select "Add to Home Screen."

International Law Scholarship: An Empirical Study

April 1, 2024

Professor Oona Hathaway and John Bowers conduct an empirical analysis about the present state of international legal scholarship and how it has changed over the last century.

This Article is being published in partnership with the Georgetown Journal of International Law and the Virginia Journal of International Law as part of the Consortium for Study and Analysis of International Law Scholarship (SAILS) . The final version of this piece will appear in print in Volume 49, Issue 1 of the Yale Journal of International Law.

Symposium: Managing Mixed Migration

April 18, 2022

Economic Sanctions and Humanitarian Principles: Lessons from International Humanitarian Law

June 26, 2023

Successful Failures: Economic Sanctions, Humanitarianism, and the Undoing of Post-Colonial Sovereignty