Empirical research of law: A revolution or mission impossible?

Abstract

Empirical research of law seeks to address the issue of isolation of legal science and law from the social reality. It signifies a change in the approach to legal research. What is the quality of that change? to answer that question, it was necessary to gain insight into empirical research of law. This paper presents main features of empirical research of law and outlines its historical development worldwide, and its current state of the art in Serbia. For full and critical account on empirical research of law the paper reviews limitations and challenges in its application. In conclusion, the author explains that empirical research is not a radical change in legal research, but a change whose success will depend on the researchers' methodological abilities.

Keywords

• empirical research
• law
• legal science
• methodology of law
• social sciences