The Incorporation Problem in Interdisciplinary Legal Research, Part 2: Case Studies

Abstract

As our previous issue 8:2, this issue of Erasmus Law Review addresses the problem of incorporating insights from non-legal disciplines into legal research. The discussion of that problem in the introduction to issue 8:2 is therefore also the starting point for the current issue, and for a full understanding of the questions underlying the contributions to this issue, we refer the reader to that earlier introduction.1 Whereas the articles in issue 8:2 focused on more general and theoretical questions with regard to the incorporation problem, this issue contains a number of case studies. The first four articles reflect on concrete research projects conducted by legal researchers in which they include a form of interdisciplinarity. The final article takes a different approach, by using Ph.D. theses, scholarly articles, and Law Reform Commission reports, analyzing whether and how legal researchers do interdisciplinary research. There are particular insights to be gained from a case study approach to the incorporation problem. The basic idea underlying the wish to include case studies here is that we need careful consideration of how incorporation works in the practice of legal research as test cases for the theoretical claims. Moreover, one of the main points of departure for our approach is that we need to assess the necessity of interdisciplinary legal research in light of the research question of the research at hand. If this idea holds, it is to be expected that there will be a great variety in modes of interdisciplinarity, depending on the precise topic and set-up of the research presented. This is certainly true of the current issue. In addition to the particular research question, it is the broader embedding of that question in a particular approach to the field that seems of paramount importance. Some fields of research in which legal scholars engage are areas in which the boundaries between disciplines have become fluid. Researching problems in such areas, therefore, almost as a matter of course, involves elements from different disciplines. The articles by Annie de Roo and Andria Naude Fourie provide examples. Annie de Roo describes four multidisciplinary projects in which she has been involved. The central theme con-