Law Is a Social Construct

“The more civilized a man becomes, the greater is man's need for law, and the more law he creates. Therefore law is just a response to social needs."

Law is a social construct, which is a result of various external social influences like culture, history, politics, economy and power. It describes the society that it exists in as it is the ideologies and values of a society that are embodied as rules and principles of law. Law constructs a framework for the society, according to the goals, interests and understandings of the people of that society i.e. It reflects the ideals, ideas and ideologies of a distinct legal culture.

In old times, the traditional societies relied mostly on customs, as a source of rules and regulations. They used to resolve their disputes through mediation and conciliation by experienced elders or by taking a common moral of divine authority. But with changing times, the societies are becoming more complex. People are only focused on personal interests rather than striving towards common goals. This in return has resulted in increase in conflicts and disputes in the society.

Therefore, for the development of the society, a legal, formal and universal system has to be established, that can deal with subjects, that cannot be resolved or addressed through natural, customary or religious law. Thus over time, the law scholars and sociologists started to understand the complexity and interrelationship between law and society.

The American scholars discovered how the relationship between law and society, involves a broad range of disciplines like science, politics, linguistics, history, philosophy etc. these writings further influenced the legal and social scholars and resulted in the birth of social jurisprude...

... middle of paper ...

...ely on identification and resolution of their client's problems, while social scholars approach a problem with an open mind, considering all evidence on proportion. Lawyers are guided by precedents and old decisions while sociologists believe in creativity and research ingenuity.

Law emphasizes on do's and don'ts, while sociology deals with the notion that why people act the way they do. Law is limited to particulars while sociology explores the horizons of various issues.

But in a broad scenario, the sociological perspective describes law instrumentally. Law makes available, the tools, resources, symbols and languages useful in the construction of social order. The study of law and other specialization in the social sciences are closely interwoven and needs to be studied together. Citing both Aristotle and Kant, that law is an embodiment of collective social life.