Introduction: a discipline in crisis? 1
1.An identity crisis 1
2.Legal science at the crossroads 4
3.A rediscovery of the legal approach? 6
4.Structure of the argument 7
Ⅰ Legal science: a typology 8
1.Introduction 8
5.Four types of legal scholarship 8
2.Descriptive legal science 11
6.Introduction 11
7.Description: the doctrinal approach 13
8.Systematization 15
9.Normative consequences of systematization 17
10.An internal perspective 20
11.Description in legal science: alternative approaches 21
12.Sociological description of law 22
13.Economic description of law 23
14.Historical description of law 24
15.Comparative description of law 25
3.Empirical legal scholarship 28
16.Research on the effects of law 28
4.The theoretical perspective 32
17.Research about law 32
5.What is next? 34
18.Continuing the debate 34
Ⅱ The Homo juridicus: towards a redefinition of normative legal science 35
1.Introduction 35
19.Course of the argument 35
2.What makes an academic discipline? 35
20.Academic disciplines 35
21.Requirements of an academic discipline 37
22.Requirements of （descriptive） legal science 39
3.Normative legal science: in search of the Homo juridicus 41
23.The legal perspective 41
24.Away from the normative haze 43
25.The need for an external normative perspective 44
26.Other normative disciplines 47
4.Law as spontaneous order 48
27.Theoretical background 48
28.Some consequences 51
29.What is next? What is legally required? 57
Ⅲ Methodology of normative legal science 58
1.Law as the discipline of conflicting arguments 58
30.Introduction 58
31.Structure of this chapter 59
32.Searching for the stone of wisdom 60
33.What ought to be? The doctrinal approach 61
34.What ought to be? The role of Law and Economics 62
35.What ought to be? The empirical approach 66
36.What ought to be? Fundamental rights as cornerstones 70
37.Intermediate conclusion: normative uncertainty is both inevitable and desirable 73
2.Towards an empirical-normative approach 74
38.Are personal preferences decisive? 74
39.The empirical-normative method 76
40.An argumentative discipline 81
41.Example: the Draft Common Frame of Reference for European Private Law 83
42.Legal science not about finding universal principles 85
43.When should there be uniformity of law? 88
44.Emphasis on deciding cases； practical wisdom 91
45.The importance of legal doctrine 93
46.Which argument prevails? Comparison without a tertium 95
3.Conclusions 97
47.Summary 97
48.Normative scholarship as an academic discipline 98
Ⅳ Organization of the legal-academic discourse 100
1.Introduction 100
49.Debate about organization 100
2.Innovation in legal science 101
50.The importance of creativity 101
51.Innovative research: many types 104
52.Is there progress in legal science? 106
3.Legal science and methodology 109
53.Introduction 109
54.Research methods and law 110
55.Making choices explicit 114
56.A need for an explicit research question? 116
57.Methodological pluralism 119
4.The research culture in legal academia 122
58.Introduction 122
59.Research programmes 123
60.The market and the importance of fundamental research 127
61.An alternative approach 133
62.Consequences for legal education 141
Synopsis 149
63.Four claims 149
References 152
Index 175