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Legal Terms - critical legal studies (CLS)
a novel method of jurisprudence that emerged in the United States throughout the 1970s. Though it draws on politics, economics, linguistics, psychoanalysis, philosophy, literary criticism, and semiotics, it offers a generally Marxist critique of the core ideas of the law. Early on, CLS stood out for two reasons: first, it was based in legal study as opposed to sociology or political science; and second, it attempted to rectify the injustices inherent in legal doctrine. Though it is frequently referred to as the continuation of *legal realism, its interpretation of the idea that the law is unpredictable is actually far more extreme. In contrast, US realists saw indeterminacy as
Theorists of CLS argue that law is radically indeterminate, limited to a particular class of circumstances, in that the class of available legal elements seldom, if ever, logically or causally entails a unique outcome. It disavows traditional liberal theories of law that create a clear division between the legislature's role in creating laws and the judiciary's role in interpreting them. Judges are seen to normally decide matters by creating new laws as CLS views the law as ambiguous, which is in odds with liberal ideology.
a novel method of jurisprudence that emerged in the United States throughout the 1970s. Though it draws on politics, economics, linguistics, psychoanalysis, philosophy, literary criticism, and semiotics, it offers a generally Marxist critique of the core ideas of the law. Early on, CLS stood out for two reasons: first, it was based in legal study as opposed to sociology or political science; and second, it attempted to rectify the injustices inherent in legal doctrine. Though it is frequently referred to as the continuation of *legal realism, its interpretation of the idea that the law is unpredictable is actually far more extreme. In contrast, US realists saw indeterminacy as
Theorists of CLS argue that law is radically indeterminate, limited to a particular class of circumstances, in that the class of available legal elements seldom, if ever, logically or causally entails a unique outcome. It disavows traditional liberal theories of law that create a clear division between the legislature's role in creating laws and the judiciary's role in interpreting them. Judges are seen to normally decide matters by creating new laws as CLS views the law as ambiguous, which is in odds with liberal ideology.
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