DOCTRINAL LEGAL RESEARCH

-BY ANKITA CHAKRABORTY

(LLM,2015)
15IP62004
WHAT IS RESEARCH??

Research is basically a scientific systematic investigation into

and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts.
The origin of the word lies in the French word “re” meaning
“expressing intensive force” and “cerchier” meaning “to
search.” In a general sense it can be said that research includes
gathering of data, information and facts for the advancement of
knowledge. But in a formal sense research is performing a
methodological study in order to prove a hypothesis or finding
the answer of a specific question. Research must be scientific,
systematic, objective and must follow a series of steps and a
standard protocol.

“RE”-SEARCH: Search again

and again.
WHAT IS LEGAL RESEARCH??

Legal Research is a Research pertaining to Law. It is the systematic investigation of a legal fact
that increases the sum of knowledge pertaining to Law. It is an addition of something to an
existing knowledge, or refute something into an existing knowledge. Law is a proposition
pertaining to the community as a whole. A Legal fact may be a single proposition of Law or a set
of propositions pertaining to Law. Law as per Legal Research attracts judicial pronouncements,
the prior stages of making and unmaking law, historical antecedents, subsequent situation or
circumstance of making a law, statistical base for any change etc.

TWO TYPES OF LEGAL RESEARCH:-

Doctrinal Research: It is a theoretical research and it is pure in nature. Conventional legal sources
like reports of committees, legal history, judicial pronouncements, Acts passed by legislature and
parliament etc are the sources of doctrinal legal research.

Non-Doctrinal Research: It is also known as empirical research or socio-legal research and relies
on experience and observation. It is a trans-boundary research but its foundation is on doctrinal
research only. Non-doctrinal legal research tries to investigate through empirical data, how law
and legal institutions affect human attitudes and what impact on society they create.
DOCTRINAL LEGAL RESEARCH:-

The word “doctrine” has derived from the Latin noun “doctrina” which means instruction, knowledge or
learning. Doctrinal Legal Research is research into legal rules, doctrines, principles and concepts. It involves a
rigorous systematic exposition, analysis and critical evaluation of legal rules, principles and doctrines and the
inter-relationship among them. It is concerned with critical review of legislations and of decisional processes
and their underlying policy. A doctrinal researcher takes secondary data which is relevant to his proposition.

Doctrinal Legal Research thus involves:-

(i) Systematic analysis of statutory provisions and of legal principles involved therein, or derived there from, and

(ii) Logical and rational ordering of the legal propositions and principles.

The conventional legal approach to Law is the Doctrinal Legal Research. Doctrinal Research is basically a
research “into” Law. It is an analysis of the black letters of Law.

Dr S.N. Jain observed that Doctrinal Research involves analysis of case law and arranging, ordering and
systematizing legal proposition and study of legal institution through legal reasoning and rational deduction.

Jain and Jain observed that Doctrinal Legal Research is a research into legal doctrine through analysis of
statutory provisions and cases by the application of power of reasoning.

Thus, in other words this type of Research is called Traditional Research or Arm-chair Research. This type of
research is carried on by judges, lawyers and law teachers.
ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF DOCTRINAL LEGAL RESEARCH:-

(i) This type of research involves analysis of legal propositions or legal concepts.

(ii) In this type of research, conventional sources of data is used.

(iii) Legal propositions from enactments, administrative rules and regulations, cases of courts etc can be a part
of doctrinal legal research.

(iv) Doctrinal Legal Research includes research into legal concepts and principles of all types : cases, statutes
and rules. Doctrinal Legal Research focuses on legal data gathered from case laws, legislation, journal articles,
law reform reports, parliamentary materials, policy documents, relevant text books etc.

(v) Doctrinal Legal Research is a research “into” Law and Legal concepts and not “about” Law. It is theoretical
and pure in nature and hence called Arm-Chair Research.

(vi) A Doctrine is a synthesis of various rules, principles, norms, interpretive guidelines and values. The term
Doctrinal in case of doctrinal legal research is closely linked with the doctrine of Precedent.

(vii) Doctrinal Legal Research is a research into the black letters of Law. Here, ascertainment of law is
necessary.

(viii) Doctrinal Legal Researcher makes his research based on secondary data which is relevant to his
proposition.
TOOLS OF DOCTRINAL LEGAL RESEARCH:-

(i) Statutory materials

(ii) Reports of committees

(iii) Legal History

(iv) Judgments, Case Reports and Case Digests

(v) Standard Textbooks and reference books

(vi) Legal Periodicals

(vii) Commentaries

(viii) Govt. Reports

(ix) Parliamentary Debates

(x) E-Resources
 AIM AND SCOPE OF DOCTRINAL LEGAL RESEARCH:-

Doctrinal Legal Research puts emphasis on rigorous analysis of statutory materials, judicial pronouncements,
Case Reports and Case digests, legal provisions, principles, concepts and doctrines relating thereto. From all
these, the researcher deduces certain legal propositions. Thus Doctrinal Legal Research aims at the following :-

(i) Study Case Law and Statutory Law in order to find the relevant Law
(ii) Looking into the purpose and policy of Law that exists
(iii) Studying legal institutions
(iv) Assessing the consistency and certainty of Law
(v) Arranging the existing Law in order and providing parameter for such order
(vi) Critical review of legislations and their decisional processes along with their underlying policy

It must be remembered that the conventional legal approach to law is all about doctrines and the classical form
of legal scholarship was nothing but Doctrinal Research. In this kind of research, the researcher takes one or
more propositions of law as a starting point or focus of his study. One can never under estimate doctrinal legal
research only because it revolves around statutes and judicial pronouncements. It must be remembered that it
contributes to the certainty, consistency and continuity of Law. It helps in systemizing the legal propositions. It
acts as an accelerator for further advancement of legal principles and doctrines.
ADVANTAGES OF DOCTRINAL RESEARCH:-

(i) In a Doctrinal Research, the researcher is always engaged in research work, analysis of case
laws and judicial pronouncements etc unlike that in case of non-doctrinal research. Also,
doctrinal research is less time consuming.
(ii) It provides the lawyers, judges and others with the instruments needed to reach a legal
decision.
(iii) Doctrinal Legal Research helps in continuity, consistency and certainty of Law. Such a
research contributes in our understanding of law, legal concepts, legal doctrines etc.
(iv) Such a Research provides quick answers to the legal problems.
(v) Such a Research helps in pointing out the inbuilt loopholes, gaps, ambiguities or
inconsistencies in the substantive law.
(vi) Doctrinal Legal Research always helps in forming a strong and solid basis for the Non-
Doctrinal Legal Research.
(vi) A Doctrinal Researcher systemizes the legal propositions that are a result of his rational
reasoning and critical analysis. In this process he may initiate a new Theory in the concerned field
of Law.
(vii) Doctrinal Legal Research helps in predicting how the legal principles, concepts or doctrines
would proceed in future.
DISADVANTAGES/LIMITATIONS OF DOCTRINAL LEGAL
RESEARCH:-

(i) Doctrinal legal research is basically the result of individual analysis of a researcher and the
perception of a legal fact of one researcher may vary from another researcher. However, each of
these perceptions are equally convincing and logical. Thus, doctrinal legal research is subjective
in nature.
(ii) In the recent past where there has been an economic, political and social change, more
emphasis is given on the people and institution regulated by Law. Law has been attributed with
the role of social engineering. There are a number of facts which lie outside the legal system
which may be responsible for non-implementation or poor implementation of a given piece of
legislation. But, doctrinal legal research do not look into these factors. Doctrinal Legal Research
do not go beyond the sphere of Law.
(iii) In many cases it is seen that there is a gap between the actual social behavior and the
behavior demanded by the Legal norm. Doctrinal Legal Research do not address these gaps.
(iv) A doctrinal legal researcher puts emphasis on traditional sources of law and judicial
pronouncements of appellate courts. The actual practice of lower courts and administrative
agencies with judicial and quasi-judicial functions remain unexplored because their judgments
are not reported.
(v) In case of a doctrinal research, the researcher looks into statutory materials, judicial
pronouncements, case reports and principles or doctrines relating to it in order to deduce legal
propositions. His inquiry into Law however does not get support from social facts or values. As a
result, these kind of researches become merely theoretical and far away from social reality. Such
a research is incomplete and inadequate .
CONCLUSION:- OR

In the recent past we have seen that doctrinal legal research has received a jolt because there has
been a change in the political philosophy of law. Now, importance is given on the sociology of
Law where the major tools of a legal researcher is sociological or empirical data. Sociology of law
tries to investigate through empirical data how the law and legal institutions affect human
attitudes and what impact it creates on the society. It will add to the value of the researcher if he
gets an opportunity to test his ideas through sociological data. However it is wrong to undermine
doctrinal research since it revolves merely around statutory provisions, cases, legal principles and
doctrines. Critics say that doctrinal legal research is far away from social values or social facts.
But it must be remembered that doctrinal legal research do involve social value, social policy and
social utility of law. The social values are found in the statutory materials, cases, history and in his
own idea of justice. A researcher may have several alternative solutions to a problem but he has to
adopt that one which will serve the best interests of the society. Even if doctrinal legal research is
confined within traditional legal materials, the most meaningful questions must be asked which
the traditional tools of doctrinal legal research would be able to answer. When a traditional
researcher analyzes the process through which a doctrine is formed, he actually looks into the
underlying policy and the goal . Also, through conventional legal materials consequences of
adopting a doctrine can be traced.
REFERENCES:-

(i) Dr.Anwarul Yaqin (2008). Legal Research And Writing Methods, New Delhi;Lexis Nexis
Butterworths Wadhwa.
(ii) http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/DeakinLawRw/2012/4.pdf,last seen:16/8/2015,
Defining and Describing what we do: Doctrinal Legal Research, Terry Hutchinson Nigel
Duncan.
(iii) Legal Research Methods-Teaching Material, prepared by: Prof(Dr) Kushal Vibhute &
Filipos Aynale m.
THE END