Abstract
Despite many doubts and criticisms, the use and popularity of the term legal culture have been growing steadily since 1969, when Lawrence Friedman first coined it. Regardless of the difficulties in conceptualising and operationalising legal culture, it is widely used in research and theoretical work. This paper investigates how researchers are overcoming conceptual issues, as well as the similarities and differences in approaches to legal culture and their effects on the comprehensibility and coherence of the concept. Through a systematic literature review of scholarly papers published in two citation bibliographic databases – Web of Science and Scopus – that contain the term legal culture in the title, this paper identifies definitions of legal culture, theoretical assumptions, research methods and specific topics depicted within the field of legal culture. The analysis indicates heterogeneous approaches to legal culture, accompanied by inconsistency in understanding and applying the concept. The notion of legal culture is related to various topics but mainly used as an intervening variable; without empirical research, authors use the term as hypothetical and self-evident, assuming its impact on law and society. Besides, the analysis identified various forms of defining and explaining the legal culture and different methodologies, amongst which a descriptive approach prevails. Based on the insight into scholarly articles on legal culture, the review concludes with suggestions for improving future research and the explanatory power of legal culture.
Highlights
Ever since it appeared in scientific and professional circles, the concept of legal culture has been an enigma for those interested in the topic
Through a systematic literature review of scholarly papers published in two citation bibliographic databases – Web of Science and Scopus – that contain the term legal culture in the title, this paper identifies definitions of legal culture, theoretical assumptions, research methods and specific topics depicted within the field of legal culture
Especially the sociology of law, in which legal culture is marked as an essential component of analysis (Friedman, 1990, in Cotterrell, 2006), anthropology, political science, economics, and other social sciences show interest in the concept
Summary
Ever since it appeared in scientific and professional circles, the concept of legal culture has been an enigma for those interested in the topic. In The Legal System: A Social Science Perspective (1975), a monograph representing the backbone of legal culture, Friedman further elaborated the concept as the third component of the legal system that gives life to the static legal structure and substance He defined legal culture as a part of general culture consisting of attitudes and values about and towards law, which affects the constitution of relation with the law and influences the position of the legal system in society (Friedman, 1975). On those grounds, many discussions, analyses, and critiques have been initiated and published over the years in edited volumes and monographs concerning the issue of legal culture.. Especially the sociology of law, in which legal culture is marked as an essential component of analysis (Friedman, 1990, in Cotterrell, 2006), anthropology, political science, economics, and other social sciences show interest in the concept
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
