ABSTRACT
This chapter considers a number of critical theories of law which provide alternative explanations of the function and position of law in (post)modern, (post)liberal states. The Critical Legal Studies (CLS) movement has drawn on legal realism and marxism to introduce new language and novel theories into the debate about law. The Karl Marx on whom legal theorists draw to support their marxist theories of law is an inconsistent and sometimes contradictory writer and as a consequence of this the definitive Marx has proved frustratingly elusive. The social control model derives its determinism from Marx and its revolutionary appeal from its simplicity. CLS scholars have been very critical of current forms of legal education. Like any theory of law, CLS is incomplete and unsatisfactory in some respects. Its value lies in its radical questioning of legal orders accepted as natural and in its challenge to the comforting notions of legal neutrality and objectivity.
