A Study on Socio Legal Research

Submitted by

Devanshu Sharma
Symbol Number: - 59/2079
Term Paper in the Subject of Socio Legal Research

L.L.M 1st year

Business and International Trade Law
Words- 3602

Submitted to
Chakrabarti Habi Education Academy College of Law
Bijulibazar, Kathmandu 44600
Purbanchal University
Office of Examination Management
Biratnagar, Nepal
Date: 17 Dec 2023

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Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

1.2 Research problem

1.3 Objective

1.4 Methodology

1.5 Limitation

1.6 Organization of Study

CHAPTER TWO

2.1 Concept of Socio Legal research

2.2 Areas of Socio-Legal Research

2.3 Utility of Socio-Legal Research

2.4 Characteristics Socio-Legal Research

2.5 Relevance of Socio-Legal Research in Nepal

CHAPTER 3

3.1 Analysis and conclusion

Bibliography

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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background
Research in common parlance refers to a search for knowledge. One can also define
research as a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific
topic. In fact, research is an art of scientific investigation. Dictionary definition of
research is a careful investigations or inquiry specially through search for new facts in
any branch of knowledge. Some people consider research as a movement from the
known to the unknown. It is a voyage of discovery. When the unknown confronts us,
more and more our inquisitiveness makes us probe and attain understanding of the
unknown. This inquisitiveness is the mother of all knowledge and the method, which
one employee for obtaining the knowledge of whatever the unknown can be termed as
research. According to Clifford Woody, research comprises defining and redefining.

problems, formulating hypothesis or suggested solutions, collecting, organizing, and

evaluating data, making deductions, and reaching conclusions and at last carefully
testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis.

In the simplest sense, research means to search again. However, it is a systematic and
organized effort to investigate a specific problem that needs a solution. Research
plays a very important role in recommending solutions to the existing problems of our
society or in solving the already solved problems in a better way. It is the pursuit of
truth with the help of study, observation, comparison, and experiment.

According to John W. Beat & James V. Kabin "Research may be defined as the
systematic and objectives analysis and recording of observations that may lead to the
development of generalization, principles or theories resulting in prediction and
possibly ultimate control events." So, going through this definition we can say that
research is important pre-requisite for dynamic social order.

Research in common parlance refers to a search for knowledge. One can also define
research as a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific
topic. In fact, research is an art of scientific investigation. Some people consider
research as a movement from the known to the unknown.

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Specifically, legal research means research in that branch of knowledge which deals
with the principles of law and legal institution. Legal research consists of analysis of
rules, concepts, and institutions of law as well as legal system itself. Legal research
means the process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to support legal
decision-making.

Legal research means research in that branch of knowledge which deals with the
principle of law and legal institution. There are three main sources of law that are
legislation, precedent and custom. These sources of law change with the changing
requirement of the society and if changes are not made while interpreting the law, the
existing law bound to be doomed. That’s why research in the area of legal knowledge
is necessary to find out lacunae or deficiencies in the existing laws and to suggest
suitable measures to eliminate them but if there is no law regulating one subject at all
then to suggest for suitable legislation is the objective of legal research.

It is the process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to support legal

decision-making. In its broadest sense, legal research includes each step of a course of
action that begins with an analysis of the facts of a problem and concludes with the
application and communication of the results of the investigation.

Legal research has its own importance and it is carried out for various reasons like, to
find about the evolution of law, to discover the defects on law; to develop new legal
concepts; to evaluate law from historical perspective, to explain nature and scope of
law, to dig out the weakness or merits of old legal aspects, to analyse the effect of
new legal system or law on society, to predict the consequences of new Act and so on.
While trying to obtain all these objectives through research, it must be done step by
step as, research is a systematic activity there are a series of steps involved while
conducting research.
Legal research is mostly social research. Social research necessarily involves studies
of real people in the real situations besides legal aspects of society. In Social research,
ethical questions regarding the relationship between the researcher and the subject,
privacy issues for the subjects, questions of the exploitation of subjects and so on are
studied. Researcher ethics for social researchers sets out to do four things: first, is

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demonstrates the practical value of thinking seriously and systematically about what
constitutes ethical conduct in social sciences research, second the text, identifies how
and why current regulatory requirement has emerged, third it reveals those practices
that have contributed to adversarial relationship between researchers and regulators,
fourthly, it encourages both parties to develop shared solutions to ethical and
regulatory problems. Socio-legal research is one of the aspects to study human
behaviour, their interactions, attitudes pertaining to any law under the research
studies. A law is of prime importance in the social life of the human beings whose
activities are regulated and controlled by law.1

Socio-legal research also termed as non-doctrinal, field-study, empirical research

refers to the study of some aspect of law in operation, law in context, law in action
which means a study of how law operates in a social context or how law deals with a
social problem, issue, or question. The term socio-legal research is used to refer to a
study that combines legal research with an investigation of some problem or question
which is essentially of a social nature and uses techniques of data collection used in
social science research. Usually, the underlying aim of such study is to determine the
nature and extent of adequacy or inadequacy of the existing law or the need for a new
law or to ascertain whether and efficacious use of law can offer some kind of solution
or answer to a problem or question or whether law can be used as instrument of
control, change and reform.2

This paper tries to study Social legal research.

1.2 Research Problem

The research problem of the study is:

i. Meaning, scopes, and relevance of social legal search.

1
DR.S.R. MYNENI, Legal Research Mehodology.
2
Sanad Devkota, Khadindra Raj Katuwal and Manish Kumar Shrestha, Legal Research Methodology

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1.3 Objectives

The objective of the study is:

i. To know the Meaning, scopes, and relevance of social legal search.

1.4 Methodology

The writing is descriptive and analytical and has been prepared using the references
from the secondary source of data.

1.5 Limitation

This paper is limited to show t Meaning, scopes, and relevance of social legal search
and doesn’t deal with any other aspect of the research.

1.6 Organization of the study

The first chapter contains the introductory part of the study where Background,
Research Problem, objective of the study, Limitations of the study, Methodology of
the study and Organization of the study are included. In second Chapter Concept of
Socio-Legal Research, area of Socio-Legal Research, utility of Socio-legal research,
characteristic of Socio-legal research & relevance of Socio-legal research in Nepal are
included. In third chapter, Analysis and Conclusion has been included.

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CHAPTER TWO

2.1 Concept of Socio-Legal Research

Social legal research is one of the aspects to study human behaviour, their activities,
interactions, and attitudes concerning to any law under the research studies. Law has
to be dynamic and must change as per the social needs and requirements. Hence
social facts and factors are responsible for the changes in law; therefore, the law and
social sciences are to be integrated and treated as one subject and the result of social
legal research shall control the development of human beings. Law has social context
and law if having no social context can be said useless and only a “mental exercise”
S.P. Simson and Ruth Field observed that “law without social context or significance
has no value because law exists in society and serve society.
Here are some vital areas where socio-legal research can take place to reform the
society.
1. Directive principles in the constitution and its implications.
2. Taxation and social changes.
3. International trade.
4. Sex offences
5. Alcoholism and crime
6. Urbanization and its problem
7. Effects of TV’s programmes
8. And other so many areas of social concerns.
We can see following utility of socio-legal research:
1. Useful in social transformation
2. Helps indecision making.
3. It creates “Public opinion” in the right direction.
4. Helpful in finding root cause of crimes.
5. It provides knowledge to all members of legislature, executive and judiciary. 3

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Socio-Legal Research | Kinds of Research | Research Methodology | Law Guru (youtube.com)

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A law is of prime importance in the social life of the human beings whose activities
are regulated and controlled by law. Law includes acts and codes, rules and
regulations, orders, and ordinances, by laws etc. It is well- known that law does not
grow in a vacuum and at the same time it cannot be static. It has to be dynamic and
must change as per the social needs and requirements. As such, social factors and
facts are responsible for the occurrence of changes in law. If no changes are made in
law, the social growth and social development including its planning and progress
will be affected. So, a law has to keep pace with social advancement and progress.
Law helps to maintain law and order through the process of social engineering. All
our activities right from the stage of birth to death, and throughout our day and nigh
are regulated and controlled by laws. Law is to maintain law and order and for the
administration of justice, evil as well as criminal. The social-legal research cannot be
expected to be carried out mono-disciplinary which is bound to result in haphazard,
isolated from society and incomplete, and it may turn out to be without any success.
The socio-legal research must be, trans-disciplinary, multi-disciplinary or
interdisciplinary. The law and social sciences are integrated and treated as on subject.
The significant aspect and characteristic of law is that it has a continuity,
consistency, and certainty. It has present which has come from the past and it shall
have future too. The past in the form of precents, conventions and institutions of law,
procedures and statues. The legal economic and political scenario are also reflected in
such changes. 4
Socio-legal research is a systematic study between law and other subjects like social,
political, or other fact conditions, to understand why something happens and to draw
inferences and general conclusions. It is an attempt to ascertain certain factual
situation, such as to find out why drug abuse is more common among certain groups.
It is to identify the cause and effect of a certain problem, such as to why there is huge
backlog of cases in certain courts and its effect on the affected parties. Law alone may
not necessarily be an answer to a social problem. But where factors are sufficiently
identified, appropriate laws, effectively enforced, may surely be helpful in dealing
with the problem. Social research is essentially a field- study. A study may be
undertaken to ascertain the nature and extent of workplace harassment of female

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DR.S.R. MYNENI, Legal Research Methodology.

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worker in certain type of working environment and what legal or other remedial
measures may be appropriate is considered.

2.2 Areas of Socio-Legal Research

Law and society are not divisible as water-tight compartments. They are interlinked.
Cooperative interdisciplinary research is required to deal with the social-legal
problems as social legal research is all interdisciplinary approach which extends into
the fields of social sciences. Upendra Baxi says that the layer must know much of
sociology and the sociologists must know much of law. Baxi proposed the socio-legal
research in the following vital areas:

1. Mapping of legal system.

2. Mapping of formal and informal legal system.
3. Studies on the beneficiaries and victims of administration of justice.
4. Law and poverty.
5. Compensatory, discrimination of a section of people such as scheduled Castes
and schedule Tribes.
6. Study of legal system in connection with cultural, social and national legal
systems.
Other areas which are covered by social legal research are as follows:

1. Directive principles of constitution and effect of its implementation.

2. Criminal tendency in some tribes and related acts in the country.
3. Tax impositions and social change.
4. International Economic Law and the increase of international trade.
5. White collar crimes and their impact on social life.
6. Labour laws and the welfare of the working classes.
7. Provision of contributions to political parties in company law and its
implications.
8. Sex offences and their effect on social life.
9. Feeble mindedness and criminality.
10. Relationship between physical anomalies and crime tendency
11. Effects of customs of society on crime rate.
12. Alcoholism and crime rate.

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13. Urbanisation and increase of crime rate.
14. Contribution of motion pictures and T.V. programmes to delinquency and crime.
15. Effects of bribery on efficiency of administration.
16. Preventive detention and public opinion.
17. Efficiency of police department and crime rate.
18. Condition of under trial criminals in jails
19. Effects of punishment and need for reforms.
20. Delay in trials and its effect on Judicial administration.
21. Abolition of death sentence and its desirability.

The socio-legal research is considered as fact research by the academic legal experts
in American Universities.

2.3 Utility of Socio-Legal Research

It aims to understand the relationship between law and society and how laws and legal
systems shape and are shaped by social, economic, and cultural factors. Law schools
have recognized the importance of socio-legal research in understanding the complex
interplay between law and society. Law tends to mould its course as per the desire of
the society. However, philosophers have always been affected by the situations
governing their lives and this has led to the development of law and jurisprudence.
Socio-Legal method shall facilitate in bringing out the ground reality of acceptance of
the new policy.
Following are some of the utilities of Socio-Legal Research:
1. Socio-Legal research can be useful in formulating new theories.
2. It gives a clue to the decision making.
3. It gives a lead and moulds public opinion.
4. It is useful in framing new laws.
5. It is useful in finding root causes of crimes and differential behaviour among
different tribes and races.
6. It provides the knowledge which widens the outlook of legislators, executives,
and judiciary.
7. It paves the way for broad based social reforms.

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2.4 Characteristics Socio-Legal Research
Whitney, F. L. says, “Sociological research includes a study of human group
relationship”. Moser C.A. says “Systematized investigation to gain knowledge about
social phenomena and problems, we call social research.” The main task before the
socio-legal scientists is to maintain a pace with the speed of social change and
accordingly identify the factors and trend of social change. Social problems are not
specifically referred to theoretical level; rather the research activity should prove its
relevance to the present context.
The following are the main characteristics of social research:

1. The social research aims at finding out the new facts.

2. The social research is based on the distinct, systematic, and precise
knowledge.
3. The social research is logical and objective in orientation.
4. The social research aims at quantification of the social facts.
5. The social research aims at investigating the facts in depth and comes out with
a format.
Socio Legal Research includes a study of human group relationship, aims to discover
new facts and to analyse their sequences as scientific undertaking by means of logical
and systema-tized methods, or old facts, interrelationships, causal explanations, and
the natural terms which govern them. Keeping in view the said definitions, we can say
that Socio-Legal research is an act that discovers the legal principles relevant to a
particular problem and it is the foundation for good legal advice. The originates and
functions in a society based upon the particular needs, customs, traditions of the
society and it also possesses the ability to greatly influence the social structure and
functions of any society. Therefore, just as researchers are clueless and hapless if they
have no knowledge of even the basics of the law, legal system and the various
important if not all the law institutions, legal researchers too would be clueless and
hapless and would do no justice whatsoever to legal inquiry if they do not possess the
basic knowledge and are not aware of the mechanics of social research methods. In
societies where the development is planned, law plays the role of a catalyst which
helps and speeds the process of social reform.

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2.5 Relevance of Socio-Legal Research in Nepal

The urge for the socio-legal research is in Nepal has manifested while the numbers of
legal doctrine and reasonable procedure are not functioning well. Systematic research
is all socio legal sphere is called for to give direction to our changing society and for a
deeper insight into the policies to be framed and implemented by all governmental
and non-governmental agencies. The law commission has responsible for the entire
legal reform, but disinterestedness and less aware hinder it, thus they incline to
conduct seminar with the group of favoured; so called experts and submit the draft to
concern ministry with the very technicalities and ambiguous. Legal drafting is quite
different from the legal writing and other court-document thus needs the proper social
understanding. Very simple success of the legal system has based on the social
conditions which comprise the morality, values, norms, practice, religious etc, known
as the social consciousness; the isolation of which can heavily erode and lastly
subvert the legal system. But Nepalese practice is quite contradicted the government
separates the law from people by ignoring the popular participation. Nepalese
legislation process is the prescription of medicine without diagnosis of the disease.
Therefore socio-legal method contributes to diagnosis and identifies the problems,
and if problems are identified, can be offered the remedies. Post democracy, some
legal institutions, e.g., National Judicial Academy (NJA), Nepal law society, Pro-
public, FREEDEL, FWLD etc. are established but they just reminded as the positive
consideration, even though the application of social legal research has not considered
truly and largely for sake of the social security and constitutional purpose of the
distributive justice. Thus, Nepal most of the social as well as welfare statutes or
legislation are largely remained unpractical or remained as the paper tiger. Similarly,
a large number of statutes also remain nonfunctional which have been enacted in a
hurry for the fulfilment of international commitment made by Nepal as being a party
to the various international treaties and conventions. 5

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KC4IQFnoECB8QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fnepjol.info%2Findex.php%2Fnlr%2Farticle%2Fdownload%
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CHAPTER THREE

3.1 Analysis and Conclusion

Socio-Legal research also termed as the non-doctrinal, field study, empirical refers to
the study of some aspect of “law in operation, “law in context, law in action. Socio-
legal research requires examination of effect of law on society and vice-versa. Hence
it is interdisciplinary research. Law and society are two faces of same coin. Society
cannot run without law and the law cannot exist without the society. law is made and
implemented to maintain the peace, order, and social harmony in the society. Before
making any law, there must be detail socio-legal research as laws are made for the
people and society. Law and society are interrelated subject, without one another
cannot exist. Law is an instrument of social control. It originates and functions in a
society and for society. The need for a new law, a change in existing law and the
difficulties that surround its implementation cannot be studied in a better manner
without the sociological enquiry. Law is an important variable in any social
investigation. Researchers cannot do anything in sociological research if they do not
know at least the basics of law, legal system, and law institutions. Similarly, a legal
researcher cannot do justice to the legal inquiry if he does not know about the
mechanics of social research methods. If any country made and implement law
without proper socio-legal research, then there might be issue on its effectiveness and
may not get the legislature’s objective. In Nepal, can not find much socio-legal
research before formulating any acts, bylaws or regulations, there must be details
analysis of behaviour & its patterns in the society for which law is going to made.
Participation of public opinion and view is very less in law making process which can
be obtained through socio-legal research.

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Bibliography

Anwar, Yaquin, Legal Research and Writing Methods, 2008

Dr. Mukhiya Bal Bahadur, Legal Research and Methodology at a glimpse, 2011

Kothari, C .R, Research Methodology (Methods and Techniques, New Age

International Publications, 2004

Myneni S. R., Legal Research Methodology, 2ndedition, Faridhabad: Allahabad Law

Agency 2001

Verma, S.R. & Wani, Afjal, Legal Research and Methodology, 2ndedition, New Delhi:
Indian Law Institute, 2006

Sanad Devkota, Khadindra Raj Katuwal and Manish Kumar Shrestha, Legal Research
Methodology
Socio-Legal Research | Kinds of Research | Research Methodology | Law Guru
(youtube.com)

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