European Legal Cultures in Transition
William L Miller author Åse B Grødeland author
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Cambridge University Press
Published:24th Jul '15
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Provides a novel methodological approach to the study of popular and professional legal culture within the European context.
Are national legal cultures in Europe converging or diverging as a result of the pressures of European legal integration? Åse B. Grødeland and William L. Miller address this question by exploring the attitudes and perceptions of the general public and law professionals in England, Norway, Bulgaria, Poland and the Ukraine.Are national legal cultures in Europe converging or diverging as a result of the pressures of European legal integration? Åse B. Grødeland and William L. Miller address this question by exploring the attitudes and perceptions of the general public and law professionals in five European countries: England, Norway, Bulgaria, Poland and the Ukraine. Presenting new findings, they challenge the established view that ordinary citizens and people working professionally with the law have different legal cultures. Their research in fact reveals that the attitudes of citizens in Eastern and Western Europe towards 'law-in-principle' are remarkably similar, whereas perceptions of 'law-in-practice' differ by country and often correlate with GDP per capita and country ranking in rule of law indices. Grødeland and Miller's innovative methodological approach will appeal to both experts and non-experts with an interest in legal culture, European integration, or European elite and public opinion.
'… Ase B. Grodeland and William L. Miller published one of the most important studies of legal culture to date … the text covers some 500 pages and it is replete with dozens and dozens of tables, and extensive quotes from interviews. The result is a rich and unprecedented study of European legal culture … The authors and researchers who worked on this book deserve our thanks for their monumental enterprise. Legal culture has changed, and will continue to change. Nonetheless, for the reasons suggested, this snapshot of legal culture in five countries is both illuminating and important; and its messages and methods, I think, are of great significance for the world of legal scholarship.' Lawrence M. Friedman, Perspectives on Europe
'On the whole, the book is well written and clear, in spite of the complexity of the authors' theoretical framework. It furthers in many ways the understanding of the processes of convergence and divergence of European legal cultures and provides convincing explanations of the causes of these processes that could be further developed in future studies.' Liviu Damsa, Europe-Asia Studies
ISBN: 9781107050358
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 32mm
Weight: 950g
590 pages