ABSTRACT
For what was called “sociolegal history” stemmed from progressive era concerns about interpreting the law in socially useful ways. Sociolegal history grew out of a rejection by early 20th century scholars of sociological jurisprudence of internal, or doctrinal, legal history (the idea that law results from formal doctrine and legal precedent). Sociological history focuses on the historical interrelation of law and society and finds explanation for legal change primarily in social context. Since the 1950s, this inquiry has branched into two competing models for the driving force of legal change. One, best demonstrated in A History of American Law (1985) by Lawrence Friedman, says that the law expresses the dominant, primarily economic needs of a given society for a given period of time. As these needs change, so too does the law, form following function.
