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Understanding Law in Many Worlds: Socio- and Empirical Legal Research in the UK and Germany

Abstract This article discusses the Nuffield inquiry report ‘ Law in the Real World: Improving our Understanding of How Law Works’. It suggests that the report matters not just because of the many policy recommendations it puts forward for the development of empirical legal research. It makes also important reading because it constructs a particular account of socio-legal and in particular empirical legal research in the UK. The article highlights three issues which are central to the picture presented in the report. It suggests that further debate concerning theses issues - especially in a comparative context - can also help to move the socio-legal enterprise forward. These three issues are the relationship between theoretical and empirical research, a tension between openness and closure among the different disciplines involved in socio-legal research, and finally the relationship between institutions and individuals in advancing socio-legal studies.