ABSTRACT
The objective of this chapter is to examine the evolution of legal systems and reviewsome of the principal classical and contemporary theories of law and society. At the outset, it should be recognized that there is no single, widely and commonly accepted, comprehensive theory of law and society (or, as a matter of fact, of anything else in the social sciences). The field is enormously complex and polemical, and individual explanations have thus far failed to capture fully this complexity and diversity. This is, of course, not due to lack of effort. On the contrary, sociological, sociolegal (and other social science) theories of law abound (see, for example, Abadinsky, 2008; Arrigo and Milovanovic, 2010; Banakar, 2003; Banakar and Travers, 2002; Barnett, 2010; Cotterrell, 2006; Henry and Lukas, 2009; Nelken, 2009; Patterson, 2010; Rich, 1978; Ransome, 2010; Rokumoto, 1994; Seron, 2006; Trevino, 2007, 2008). Of the vast amount of law and society literature, this chapter deals briefly with only a few of the important classical and contemporary theories of law and society. This approach serves certain purposes. It provides the reader with some conception of the development and content of these different theories and how they relate to one another. Although the discussion of these theories clearly shows the complex and multifaceted nature of the relationship between law and society, it also serves as a means of differentiating, organizing, and understanding a great mass of material.Thus, although the concern is to suggest the magnitude and diversity of the field, an attempt is also made to lend order to that magnitude and diversity.
