Introduction:

Politics, Law, and Society

GPAD 1100 Politics, Law and Society
Spring 2022, Dr. Nelson K. Lee
Lecture 1, Jan 10, 2022
A. Introduction
1. Law permeates all forms of social behavior.

2. Not all societies have a formal legal system.

3. Law reflects the intellectual, social, economic,

and political climate of its time, it also reflects
the particular ideas, ideals, and ideologies that
make the law of one society different from that
of another.
B. What is law?
1. Bronislaw Kasper Malinowski: law “as the
obligations of one person and the rightful
claims of another. They are sanctioned not
by a mere psychological motive, but by a
definite social machinery of binding force,
based … upon mutual dependence, and
realized in the equivalent arrangement of
reciprocal services.” (1926, 55, Vago, 7)

• “Law is the specific result of the

configuration of obligations, which makes it
impossible for the native to shirk his
responsibility without suffering for it in the
future.” (1926, 49, Vago, 7)
Con’t
2. E. Adamson Hoebel: “A social norm is legal if its
neglect or infraction is regularly met, in threat
or in fact, by the application of physical force
by an individual or group possessing the
socially recognized privileged of so acting.”
(1954, 28, Vago, 7)

3. Radcliffe-Brown: Law as “the maintenance or

establishment of social order, within a
territorial framework, by the exercise of
coercive authority through the use, or the
possibility of use, of physical force.” (cited in
Hoebel, 1954, 26, Vago, 7)
Con’t
4. Max Weber: “An order will be called
law if it is externally guaranteed by
the probability that coercion, to bring
about conformity or avenge violation,
will be applied by a staff of people
holding themselves specially ready
for that purpose.” (1954, 5, Vago, 7-8)

5. Richard Quinney: “Law is the creation

and interpretation of specialized
rules in a politically organized
society.” (1970, 13, Vago, 7)
Con’t
6. Donald Black: law as governmental social
control, “the normative life of a state and its
citizens, such as legislation, litigation, and
adjudication.” (1976, 2, Vago 8)
C. Types of law

1. Written law or unwritten (abstract) law

2. Substantive or procedural law

• Substantive laws: consist of rights, duties, and prohibitions

administered by courts;
• Procedural laws: rules concerning how substantive laws
are to be administered, enforced, changed, and used in
the mediation of disputes.
Con’t

3. Public or private law

• Public law is concerned with the structure of

government, the duties and powers of officials, and
the relationship between the individual and the state;
• Private law is concerned with both substantive and
procedural rules governing relationships between
individuals.
Con’t
3. Civil or criminal law

• Civil law consists of a body of rules and procedures

intended to govern the conduct of individuals in their
relationships with others;
• Criminal law is concerned with the definition of crime,
which are regarded as offenses against the state or “the
people”. A crime is a “public,” as opposed to an “individual”
or “private.” (10)
• Henry M. Hart: “ … is not simply antisocial conduct which
public officers are given a responsibility to suppress. It is
not simply any conduct to which a legislature chooses to
attach a ‘criminal’ penalty. It is a conduct which, if duly
shown to have taken place, will incur a formal and solemn
pronouncement of the moral condemnation of the
community.” (1958, 404, Vago, 10)
D. Legal systems
1. Civil law system (Romano-Germanic): legal
science that has developed on the basis of
Roman ius civile. It is a codified system, and the
basic law is found in codes.

2. Common law system: resists codification; case

law, which relies on precedents set by judges in
deciding a case.

3. Socialist law system: legal system that is built up

to implement the Marxist social ideal.

4. Islamic law system: laws of Islamic countries

created in the name of God.
E. Functions of law

1. Social control

2. Dispute settlement

3. Social engineering
F. Dysfunctions of law
1. Conservatism, upholds status quo.

2. Rigidity, enacted according to general, abstract, and

universal terms, fails to consider particular situation.

3. Discrimination: “The law in its majestic equality … forbids

the rich as well as the poor from sleeping under bridges,
begging in the street, and stealing bread.” (Black, 1989, 72,
Vago, 15)

4. Procedural inefficiencies, administrative delays, archaic legal

technologies.
G. Models of society and law
1. Integration-consensus model

• Society as a functionally integrated, relatively stable system held

together by a basic consensus of values
• Law as a neutral framework for maintaining societal integration
• Law provides for the common good and the satisfaction of social wants
• Law is enacted by the representatives of the people in the interests of
the people
• The purpose of law is to control interests and to maintain harmony
and social integration
• Talcott Parsons: “The primary function of a legal system is integrity. It
serves to mitigate potential elements of conflict and oil the machinery
of social intercourse.” (1962, 58)
Con’t
2. Conflict-coercion model

• Law as a “weapon in social conflict”, and an instrument of

oppression “employed by the ruling classes for their own
benefit.”
• Quinney: “It is seldom the product of the whole society. Law
is made by men, representing special interests, who have the
power to translate their interest into public policy.” (1970, 35)
• State as the instrument of the ruling class (1975, 285).