Law Commons^™

The Importance Of Being Empirical, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Legal scholarship is becoming increasingly empirical. Although empirical methodologies gain important influence within the legal academy, their application in legal research remains underdeveloped. This paper surveys and analyzes the state of empirical legal scholarship and explores possible influences on its production. The paper advances a normative argument for increased empirical legal scholarship.

The American Jury At Twenty-Five Years, Valerie P. Hans, Neil Vidmar

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The year 1991 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of Harry Kalven, Jr. and Hans Zeisel's classic work, The American Jury. Arguably one of the most important books in the field of law and social science, this research monograph began the modrn field of jury studies and deeply influenced contemporary understanding of the jury as an institution.

In this essay we assess the book from the vantage point of a quarter- century. First, we provide a historical backdrop by reviewing the activities of the University of Chicago's Jury Project that led to the publication of The American Jury …

Law & Society: Its Research, Richard O. Lempert

Articles

Writing in 1968 on research in the then infant discipline of law and social science, Harry Kalven noted with some pride the growing body of book-length work in the area. While the "relevant" bookshelf in Kalven's office was "still well under five feet," there had for Kalven "been nothing like [these books] previously, and their existence mark[ed] a major change in the relationship of law and science." Today, when I look around my office, I see 11 relevant bookshelves, which is only a small fraction of what has been produced.