Digging into legal archaeology: a methodology for case study research
| Published date | 01 September 2022 |
| Author | EMMA NOTTINGHAM |
| Date | 01 September 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/jols.12377 |
DOI: ./j ols.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Digging into legal archaeology: a methodology
for case study research
EMMA NOTTINGHAM
Department of Law, University of
Winchester, Sparkford Road, Winchester,
Hampshire, SO NR, England
Correspondence
Emma Nottingham, University of
Winchester, Sparkford Road,Winchester,
Hampshire, SO NR, England
Email:
Emma.Nottingham@winchester.ac.uk
Abstract
Traditional legal scholarship has been dominated by
doctrinal analysis. When cases are analysed, attention
has commonly focused upon the legal issues, judi-
cial reasoning, and case outcome. However, alternative
approaches can lead to new or different conclusions.
Legal archaeology is a type of micro-level case study
research that examines a case in its socio-historical
context, using mainly original sources, to construct a
more detailed case narrative than that presented in
the case report. Rather than trying to fit newly dis-
covered evidence to pre-existing doctrine or respond
to a research question, legal archaeology focuses on
the subjective, variable nature of cases and captures
their uniqueness. Reflecting on a legal archaeologystudy
previously undertaken by the author in addition to
existing works, this article emphasizes the importance
of legal archaeology as a tool for case study research
and suggests a four-stage approach for the process of
investigation that could be replicated by scholars in
future.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits
use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or
adaptations are made.
© The Authors. Journalof Law and Society published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Cardiff University (CU).
S16 wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jols J.Law Soc. ;(Suppl. ):S–S.
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