Postmodern Legal Thought: The Practical Application of Critical Legal Studies

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24530006
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Fundamental law
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Funakoshi Motoaki 京都大学, 法学(政治学)研究科(研究院), 教授 (70362548)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 批判法学 / 法的思考 / ポストモダニズム

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research, whose goal is to investigate the practical application of Critical Legal Studies (CLS) within Japanese legal academia, focuses on its major proponent Duncan Kennedy’s approach to historical transformations of legal thought: Classical Legal Thought (deduction) → the social (teleological reasoning) → contemporary mode of legal thought (policy analysis). Using a comparison with Kennedy’s approach, this research reexamines historical transformations in Japanese legal thought (in particular, theories of mistake). As well, and as a precondition, this research confirms the meaning of Kennedy’s approach by comparing it with other CLS theories: historical sociology by Roberto Unger, neo-Marxist socio-legal theory by Karl Klare et al., and feminist jurisprudence by Frances Olsen.

Free Research Field

法社会学