Explaining Law - by Larry D Barnett (Hardcover)

About the Book

Explaining Law builds on and adds to quantitative social science evidence that concepts and doctrines of law on society-significant activities in a modern nation are a product, not a determinant, of the society in which the law exists.

Book Synopsis

Sociologist-lawyer Larry D. Barnett advances the macrosociological thesis that, in nations that are structurally complex and democratically governed, concepts and doctrines of law on society-central social activities are fashioned by society-level conditions, not by particular (or even prominent) individuals. Because a substantial body of social science research has found that law in a modern nation does not have a large, permanent effect on the frequency of such activities, the book contends that the content of law on the activities is a product, not a determinant, of the society in which the law exists. Explaining Law bolsters this contention with several original studies, and illustrates types of quantitative evidence that can be used to build a macrosociological theory of law.

About the Author

Larry D. Barnett, J.D. (1975) University of Florida, Ph.D. (1965) Florida State University, is Professor Emeritus in the School of Law at Widener University Delaware Law School. He is the author of The Place of Law (Transaction Publishers, 2011) and Legal Construct, Social Concept (Aldine de Gruyter, 1993).