MEASUREMENT OF LEGAL CAPABILITY IN EMPIRICAL SOCIOLOGY

Abstract

The article presents an overview of approaches to the conceptualization and operationalization of a legal capability, which is defined as a set of personal characteristics necessary for a person to effectively address issues related to law. A distinction is made between legal capability and other related concepts, such as legal literacy or awareness, legal empowerment, and legal consciousness. The article summarizes the main aspects of legal capability and their manifestations: knowledge, attitudes, skills, and resources. Researchers recommend considering these aspects separately at each stage of resolving a legal issue, as well as at the basic level and the level of a specific problem. It is emphasized that a legal person must be able not only to solve but also to prevent problems that have a legal dimension. The article also summarizes the international practice of applying the concept of legal capability in surveys on socio-legal issues. The concept itself has only begun to appear in legal needs surveys in recent years, but some aspects of it, such as legal knowledge, attitudes toward the justice system, or confidence in one’s own ability to seek justice in disputes, have been explored before. Despite a large amount of data from different countries, there are currently few statistically confirmed observations about certain indicators of legal knowledge, attitudes, skills, and resources which are most associated with a higher chance of achieving a successful outcome on a legal issue. There is also a lack of data about measuring legal skills and the role played by different aspects of legal capability at different stages of solving the problem and at the basic and specific level in a certain society. Another methodological challenge is the need to take into account the huge variety of legal situations and disputes that people deal with in everyday life.