TAMIL NADU NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

(A University established under the Tamil Nadu Act No. 9 of 2012)

Dindigul Main Road, Navalurkuttapattu
Tiruchirappalli 620 027
Tamil Nadu, India

B.A. LL.B. (H)

Semester IV
COURSE SYLLABUS

SOCIOLOGY III [LAW AND SOCIETY]

Course Reasoning

The study of law and society rests on the belief that the legal rules and decisions must be
understood in context. The functioning of law cannot be read from the texts alone, but the texts
articulate certain historical structuring principles which give jurisdictional, individuals, and
organizational practices a cultural and symbolic orientation. This course is intended to introduce
students to the socio-legal reasoning that emphasizes the dialogic relations between law and
society.

Course Objectives

 To examine the law’s relationship to society within the framework of sociology of law
 To introduce students to the sociological theories of law
 To delineate the relationship that exists between the texts and the practices of law in
India.
 To develop a sociological understanding on the functioning of legal institutions and
actors within the broader legal system

Learning Outcome

 Understand the origins of English Common Laws and its reflections in the Post Indian
Independent Legal System.
 Analyse the development of various legal theories and its implication in Present day
Indian Legal systems and Profession.
 Appreciate the existence of a robust Indian Customary Laws and its dispensation
through traditional Institutions such as Village Panchayats

Teaching Methods

It is a combination of lecture and discussion of course readings. The lectures will not simply
summarize the course readings. The lectures will utilize material from the course readings, but
they will also go beyond the readings in a variety of ways. They will often address theories,
concepts, issues, etc. that are not discussed in the readings. The lectures and the readings are
intended to complement each other, not copy each other. In order to develop their own
perspectives on the issues that are discussed in the readings, the students will be asked to raise
certain questions and discuss them in the classroom after the lectures everyday. Therefore
students are expected to read all the required readingsbefore class and be prepared to discuss the
major issues raised in the material, as well as ask questions about the readings and the lectures.
You are also encouraged to read recommended readings, mentioned in the lectures and
identified on the course outline below.

Sociology and Law MODULE 1

a) Relationships between Law and Sociology

b) The Sociological Concept of Law
c) Law and Society: An Introduction to the Interdisciplinary Field

Required Readings:

1. Cotterrell, R.B.M. (1986) Law and Sociology: Notes on the Constitution and
Confrontations of Disciplines. Journal of Law and Society, Vol.13, No. 1
2. Cotterrell, R. (1983). The Sociological Concept of Law. Journal of Law and Society, Vol.10,
No. 2
3. Mather, Lynn. (2008) Law and Society in Whittington, K.E. et al. (eds). The Oxford Hand
Book of Law and Politics. Oxford: OUP

Social Basis of law MODULE 2

a) Law and Custom

b) Religion and Morals
c) Public Opinion and Law
Required Readings:
1. Malinowski, B. (1979). Law and Custom in Campbell, C.M. and Paul Wiles.(eds). Law and
Society. Oxford: Martin Robertson
2. Dicey, A.V. (1979). Public Opinion and Law in Campbell, C.M. and Paul Wiles.(eds).
Law and Society. Oxford: Martin Robertson

Sociological Theories of Law MODULE 3

a) Law and Social Solidarity: Emile Durkheim

b) Legal System and Social Systems: Talcott Parsons andJurgen Habermas
c) Law, Class and ideology: Karl Marx
d) Rational Legal Action and Authority: Max Weber
e) Law, Power and Governance: Michel Foucault
 Required Readings:

1. Clarke, Michael. (1976). Durkheim's Sociology of Law. British Journal of Law and Society,
Vol. 3, No. 2 (Winter, 1976)
2. Deflem, Mathieu. (1998). The Boundaries of Abortion Law: Systems Theory from
Parsons to Luhmann and Habermas. Social Forces, Vol. 76, No. 3(soft copy will be
circulated)
3. Vincent, Andrew. (1993). Marx and Law. Journal of Law and Society, Vol. 20, No. 4
4. Albrow, Martin. (1975). Legal Positivism and Bourgeois Materialism: Max Weber's View
of the Sociology of
5. Law. British Journal of Law and Society, Vol. 2, No. 1.
6. Turkel, Gerald. (1990). Michel Foucault: Law, Power, and Knowledge. Journal of Law and
Society, Vol. 17, No. 2. (soft copy will be circulated)

Sociological Perspectives on Criminal Justice System and Legal Culture

MODULE 4

(A) Legal Actors and the Criminal Justice System

a) Law, and the Discourse on Criminality

b) Police and the Law and order
c) Practice of Law: Lawyers, Judges and Courts

Required Readings:

1. David Rudovsky,The Criminal Justice System and the Role of the Police
2. Sharma, K.L. (2005). Legal Profession and Society: A Study of Lawyers and their Clients
in Deva, Indra. (ed). Sociology of Law. New Delhi: OUP
3. Morrison, C. (2005). Social Organization at the District Courts: Colleague Relationship
among Indian Lawyers.

(B) Law and Culture

a) Legal culture
b) Culture and Rights and Cultural Rights
c) From ‘Rights as Culture’ to ‘Culture as Rights’
d) Local Culture, Resistance and the Problems of Legitimacy of Law

Required Readings:

1. Cowan, J.K, M-B Dembour and Richard A. Wilson. (2001).Introduction in Cowan, J.K,
M-B Dembour and Richard A. Wilson (eds). Culture and Rights. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
2. Merry, S. E. (2001). Changing rights, changing culture in Cowan, J.K, M-B Dembour and
Richard A. Wilson (eds). Culture and Rights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 3. Baxi, Upendra. (1991). Conflicting Conceptions of Legal Cultures and Conflict of Legal
Cultures. Journal of The Indian Law Institute. Vol. 33, April-June, No. 2

Law and Society in India MODULE 5

The Conception of Law and society in Indian Thinking

A. Law and Morality in Indian Context:

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Law, Social Justice and Political
Emancipation of Dalits: B. R. Ambedkar
B. Modern Law in Indian Society: Understanding the functioning of Laws and the Legal
Systems related to Caste, Gender and Sexuality

Required Readings:

1. Hegde, V.S. (1989). ‘The Practice of Law and Gandhi’ in Patil, V.T. (ed). New Dimensions
and Perspective in Gandhism. New Delhi: Inter-India Publications.
2. Mohapatra, S. K. (2009). Defining Ambedkarism. Social Change and Development. Vol. VI
3. Prakasa Rao, D.S(2005) ‘Constitutional Justice: Ambedkar’s Perspective’ in Shabbir,
Mohammad. (ed). Ambedkar on Law, Constitution and Social Justice. Jaipur: Rawat
Publications.
4. Uberoi, Patricia. (1996). Hindu Marriage Law and the Judicial Construction of Sexuality
in Kapur, Ratna.(ed). Feminist Terrains in Legal Domains. New Delhi: Kali for Women

Additional Readings:

1. Basu,Srimati. (2000), Cutting to Size: Property and Gendered Identity in the Indian
Courts in Rajeshwari Sunder Rajan (ed), Signposts: Gender Issues in Post-Independence India,
New Delhi: Kali for women
2. Cotterrell, Roger. (1983), The Sociological Concept of Law, Journal of Law and Society, Vol.
10, No.2
3. Cotterrell, Roger. (1992), The Sociology of Law: An Introduction, London: Butterworths
4. Das,Veena. (1995), Critical Events: An Anthropological Perspective on Contemporary
India, New Delhi: Oxford University Press
5. Derrida, Jacques. (1992), Force of Law: The “Mystical Foundation of Authority” in
Drucilla Cornell, Michel Rosenfeld and David Gray Carlson (eds.) Deconstruction and
the Possibility of Justice, New York: Routledge
6. Eder, Klaus. (1988), Critique of Habermas’s Contributions to the Sociology of Law, Law
& Society Review, Vol. 22, No. 5
7. Foucault, Michel. (1991), Discipline and Punish, New York: Vintage Books
8. Foucault, Michel. (1994), Power, London: Penguin Books
9. Galanter,Marc. (1997), Law and Society in Modern India, Delhi: Oxford University Press
10. Gerth, H.H. and C. Wright Mills (eds.), (1946). From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology,
New York: Oxford University Press
11. Habermas, Jurgen. (1996), Paradigms of Law, 17 Cardozo L. Rev. 771
12. Hunt, Alan. (1993), Foucault’s Expulsion of Law: Toward a Retrieval, London:
Routledge
13. Hunt,Murray. (1999), The Human Rights Act and Legal Culture: the
Judiciary and the Legal Profession, Journal of Law and Society, Vol. 26, No. 1
14. John, Mathew and Sitharamam Kakarala (eds.), (2007), Enculturing Law: New Agenda
for Legal Pedagogy, New Delhi: Tulika Books
15. Kelman,Mark. The Origins of Crime and Criminal Violence
16. Mahajan,Gurpreet. (2001). Identities and Rights: Aspects of Liberal Democracy in India,
New Delhi: Oxford University Press
17. Renteln, A.D. (1985), The Unanswered Challenge of Relativism and the Consequences
for Human Rights, Human Rights Quarterly, 1985
18. Timasheff, N.S. (1941), Fundamental Problems of the Sociology of Law, The American
Catholic Sociological Review, Vol. 2, No. 4
19. Valverde, Mariana. (2001),Derrida’s Justice and Foucault’s Freedom: Ethics, History, and
Social Movements in Roger Cotterrell (ed), Sociological Perspectives on Law, Vol-I. Aldershot:
Ashgate.
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