Sociology of law The sociology of law (or legal sociology) is
often described as a sub-discipline of sociology or an
interdisciplinary approach within legal studies. While some
socio-legal scholars see the sociology of law as "necessarily"
belonging to the discipline of sociology, others see it as a
field of research caught up in the disciplinary tensions and
competitions between the two established disciplines of law and
sociology. Yet, others regard it neither as a sub-discipline of
sociology nor as a branch of legal studies and, instead, present
it as a field of research on its own right within a broader
social science tradition. For example, Roger Cotterrell
describes the sociology of law without reference to mainstream
sociology as "the systematic, theoretically grounded, empirical
study of law as a set of social practices or as an aspect or
field of social experience". Irrespective of whether the
sociology of law is defined as a sub-discipline of sociology, an
approach within legal studies, or a field o