ABSTRACT
This chapter examines socio-legal study as a learning tool which focuses students and law teachers on the relationship between law and contemporary societal needs. Socio-legal study can include assessment of the consequences of law and legal institutions in particular contexts. The chapter provides western readers with an understanding of the roles socio-legal studies have played and can play in the Sri Lankan context. It focuses on key features of law and legal education at the University of Colombo Faculty of Law. The chapter discusses some of the extraordinary stresses in Sri Lanka as a developing country: ethnic conflict, electricity shortages, underemployment, and widespread poverty. It explores past efforts at Faculty of Law to link academic study to the national and local problems of three disadvantaged groups. The chapter examines the policy reasons for legal educators to provide academic credit for socio-legal study as a way to prepare students to address the persistent problems Sri Lanka faces as a developing nation.
