Doctrinal Research in Law: Meaning, Scope and Methodology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61506/01.00167Keywords:
Research, Legal Research, Doctrinal Research, Scope of Doctrinal Research, Methodology in Legal ResearchAbstract
The doctrinal legal research has been the dominant and most influential research methods in law. The purpose of the present study was twofold; to explore the scope and to analyze the methodologies of doctrinal legal research. After analyzing the systematically selected literature, the present study found that doctrinal research is concerned with methodically finding, examining, explaining and justifying the enacted legal framework. In addition, the doctrinal research was also used to predict the future development in law. Moreover, the study found that doctrinal research methodology was used by legal and non-legal researchers. The study also found that the beginning of the doctrinal legal research is the presence of a legal problem which is followed by finding the relevant legal material including statutory law, constitutional provision pertaining to the problem, by laws, judicial decisions, commentaries of the analysts, encyclopedias and dictionaries. The study further found that after finding the relevant legal material, a researcher is required to analyze the legal material to determine the fitness of the problem or to suggest the solution of legal problem. Further to that, a researcher should also synthesize the legal material to highlight the inconsistencies between enacted legislation and fundamentals legal norms and principles of the legal system. The study also found that a doctrinal research study is concluded by reporting the findings and the recommendations.
References
Abbott, L., Anderson, J., Anton, D. K., Baker, K., Barnes, J., Barton, G., ... & Thorpe, D. (2010). Australian law dictionary. Oxford University Press.
Agrawala, R. (1982). Indian Legal Research: An Evolutionary and Perspective Analysis. Journal of the Indian Law Institute, 24(2/3), 470-513.
Ali, S. I., Mohamed Yusoff, Z., & Ayub, Z. A. (2017). Legal research of doctrinal and non-doctrinal. International Journal of Trend in Research and Development, 4(1), 493-495.
Barnett, L. (2011). The process of law reform: conditions for success. Federal Law Review, 39(1), 161-193. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22145/flr.39.1.6
Budianto, A. (2020). Legal research methodology reposition in research on social science. International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 9(1), 1339-1346. DOI: https://doi.org/10.6000/1929-4409.2020.09.154
Campbell, C. M., & Wiles, P. (1975). The study of law in society in Britain. Law & Soc'y Rev., 10, 551. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3053297
Chynoweth, P. (2008). Legal research. Advanced research methods in the built environment, 1.
Chynoweth, P. (2011). Chapter 3–Legal Research. Ruddock & Knight (eds).
Chynoweth, P. Chapter 3–Legal Research. Ruddock & Knight (eds).
Cotterrell, R. (1998). Why must legal ideas be interpreted sociologically?. Journal of law and society, 25(2), 171-192.
Cotterrell, R. (1998). Why must legal ideas be interpreted sociologically?. Journal of law and society, 25(2), 171-192. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6478.00086
Cownie, F. (2004). Legal academics: Culture and identities. Hart Publishing.
Desmond Manderson and Richard Mohr, ‘From Oxymoron to Intersection: An Epidemiology of Legal Research’ (2002) 6(1) Law Text Culture 159, 161
Fourie, A. N. (2015). Expounding the place of legal doctrinal methods in legal-interdisciplinary research. Erasmus L. Rev., 8, 95.
Grinnell, R. M. (1993). Social work research and evaluation. Itasca. Illinois: FE Peacock Publishers.
Hutchinson, T. (2006). Researching and writing in law. Thomas Lawbook Co.
Hutchinson, T. (2015). The doctrinal method: Incorporating interdisciplinary methods in reforming the law. Erasmus L. Rev., 8, 130. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5553/ELR.000055
Hutchinson, T., & Duncan, N. (2012). Defining and describing what we do: doctrinal legal research. Deakin law review, 17(1), 83-119. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21153/dlr2012vol17no1art70
Khalil, A. (2010). Research Methodology in the Science of Law. Birzeit University.
Kharel, A. (2018). Doctrinal Legal Research. Available at SSRN 3130525. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3130525
Kothari, C. R. (2004). Research methodology: Methods and techniques. New Age International.
Mark Van Hoecke (ed), Methodologies of Legal Research Which Kind of Method for What Kind of Discipline? (Hart Publishing, 2011).
McConville, M. (Ed.). (2017). Research methods for law. Edinburgh University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474404259
McCrudden, C. (2017). Legal research and the social sciences. In Legal Theory and the Social Sciences (pp. 149-167). Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315091891-6
MD, P. (2019). Legal Research-Descriptive Analysis on Doctrinal Methodology. International Journal of Management, Technology and Social Sciences (IJMTS), 4(2), 95-103. DOI: https://doi.org/10.47992/IJMTS.2581.6012.0075
Myneni, S. R. (2012). Legal research methodology. Allahabad Law Agency, Faridabad.
Newman, I., & Benz, C. R. (1998). Qualitative-quantitative research methodology: Exploring the interactive continuum. SIU Press.
Ngwoke, R. A., Mbano, I. P., & Helynn, O. (2023). A critical appraisal of doctrinal and Non-doctrinal legal research methodologies in contemporary times. International Journal of Civil Law and Legal Research, 3(1), 08-17.
Pauline Westerman, ‘Open or Autonomous? The Debate on Legal Methodology as a Reflection of the Debate on Law
Pearce, D. C., Campbell, E., & Harding, D. E. (1987). Australian law schools: A discipline assessment for the Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission: A summary. Australian Government Pub. Service.
Reitz, J. C. (1998). How to do comparative law. Am. j. Comp. L., 46, 617. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/840981
Sealy, B. (2005). A jailhouse lawyer’s manual.
Shukla, G. (2023). Doctrinal Legal Research: A Library-Based Research. In Social Research Methodology and Publishing Results: A Guide to Non-Native English Speakers (pp. 226-239). IGI Global. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-6859-3.ch015
Smits, J. M. (2009). Redefining normative legal science: towards an argumentative discipline. Methods of Human Rights Research, F. Coomans, F. Grünfeld, M. Kamminga, eds., Antwerp-Oxford, 45-58.
Smits, J. M. (2017). What is legal doctrine? On the aims and methods of legal-dogmatic research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316442906.006
Soren, C. (2021). Legal research methodology: An overview. Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR), 8(1).
Taekema, S., & van der Burg, W. (2020). Legal philosophy as an enrichment of doctrinal research part I: introducing three philosophical methods. Law and method, (January). DOI: https://doi.org/10.5553/REM/.000046
Taekema, S., & van Klink, P. (2011). On the border: limits and possibilities of interdisciplinary research. Bart van Klink and Sanne Taekema, Law and Method. Interdisciplinary research into Law (Series Politika, nr 4), Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011, 7-32.
Trischa Mann (ed), Australian Law Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 2010) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195557558.001.0001
Vranken, J. B. M. (2010). Methodology of legal doctrinal research. In M. A. A. Hoecke (Ed.), Methodologies of legal research. Which kind of method for what kind of discipline (pp. 111-121). Hart Publishing.
Westerman, P. C. (2009). Open or autonomous: The debate on legal methodology as a reflection of the debate on law. Available at SSRN 1609575. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1609575
