Who needs the European Society for Empirical Legal Studies?
| Author | U. Šadl |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1023263X231160067 |
| Published date | 01 December 2022 |
| Date | 01 December 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
Who needs the European
Society for Empirical Legal
Studies?
U. Šadl
*
European University Institute, Florence and MOBILE Centre of Excellence for Mobile Law,
Copenhagen, Denmark
Introduction: ESELS
The European Society for Empirical Legal Studies (ESELS) was established on 1 September
2022, in Amsterdam. I ts goal is to promote a co nstructive conve rsation among legal s cholars
involved in empiri cal legal research ( in the broadest sens e), primarily rele vant to Europe and
European jurisdictions, and organize an annual conference. The first conference was held on
the same date. The call for papers invited scholars to submit their work using qualitative and/or
quantitative methods about the assumptions, the functioning, and t he impact of the law.
1
The
aim of the conferen ce was to create a uni que place for empiri cal legal scholars to engage,
present, and discuss their results. For full disclosure, I delivered one of the plenary addresses
and I am one of the founding members.
In this short editorial, I reflect on ESELS’s commitment to foster a methodologically pluralist,
intellectually open, and disciplinary inclusive academic culture, and, in connection with that,
wonder about the character of European empirical legal research. The former gives legal scholars
a unique opportunity to reinvigorate their discipline under one label. The latter intrigues me,
particularly on the question of whether ESELS can develop a healthy relationship with its
mother discipline –the doctrinal legal research, and whether it will promote or frustrate the fledg-
ling and ongoing conversations between law and economics, law and political science, and so on.
These relationships, I sense, might be the key determinants of ESELS’s institutional and scientific
success.
The topic(s) (re-)occur to me at the time when ESELS’s contemporary, the extremely success-
ful Society for Empirical Legal Studies (SELS), is holding its 16
th
Annual Conference at the
*I thank J v H Holtermann for engaging in long debates about the epistemological foundations of empirical legal research.
His work grounds much of my thinking about law and methodology. I am grateful to Daniel Naurin for a conversation about
empirical legal studies and its effects on the bilateral conversations between law and political science. Last but important,
many thanks to the editorial board of this journal for their invite to contribute the editorial and their feedback to an earlier
draft.
1. ‘Call for papers: 2022 International Empirical Legal Studies Conference!’,Universiteit Leiden (2022), https://www.
universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2022/04/call-for-papers-2022-international-empirical-legal-studies-conference.
Editorial
Maastricht Journal of European and
Comparative Law
2022, Vol. 29(6) 643–647
© The Author(s) 2023
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DOI: 10.1177/1023263X231160067
maastrichtjournal.sagepub.com
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