Perspektivering: rettshistorie, rettssosiologi og rettsøkonomi

Increasingly, research on dogmatic legal issues require multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches in addition to the traditional theoretical and methodological toolbox of doctrinal legal scholarship. The aim of the course is to focus on central thematic, theoretical and methodological issues in legal history, sociology of law and law and economics. These disciplines offer external perspectives on law as a normative entity: its historical evolution, the role and relevance of law in contemporary society; and the linkage to forms of economic rationality.

• Legal history: The starting point is the assumption that theoretical and methodological knowledge about notions of temporality and chronology represent a fruitful dimension of any academic project. The participants will obtain a greater understanding of how interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary collaborations with legal historians can enhance their own research.
• Sociology of law: The course introduces participants to theoretical concepts and debates in contemporary sociology of law. Recurring themes concern social change, legal mobilization and power, legal consciousness, juridification and legal pluralism. The aim is to help the participants reflect critically on rule of law debates, law in practice, and the potentials and limitations of using law as a tool for (social) change. The participants will obtain a greater understanding of how interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary collaborations can enhance their own research.
• Law and economics: The general idea is to introduce the PhD candidates to behavioral and comparative approaches to law and economics, especially from European perspectives. Through this they are familiarized to the challenges of US based classical economics and law and economics and how they could be answered, with a special focus on the European context.