Research Committee on Sociology of Law
The Research Committee on Sociology of Law (RCSL) is the only international organization in the field of legal sociology to date . Formally, it is just one of the more than fifty research committees of the International Sociological Association . However, due to its interdisciplinary subject area, the RCSL has a considerable pull on both legal scholars and sociologists. Since 1989 the RCSL has been responsible for the work of the International Institute for the Sociology of Law .
The RCSL was founded in 1962 during the ISA Congress in Washington. William Evans (USA) and Adam Podgorecki (then Poland, later Canada) were its founding fathers. Renato Treves , doyen of Italian legal sociology, helped establish the committee as RC 12 within the International Sociological Association. Founding members included Vilhelm Aubert (Norway), Jean Carbonnier (France), Ralf Dahrendorf (Germany), Jan Glastra van Loon , (Netherlands), Verner Goldschmidt (Denmark), Otto Kahn-Freund (Great Britain), Takeyoshi Kawashima (Japan) , Carl Olivecrona (Sweden), Luis Recasens Siches (Mexico) and Philip Selznick (USA).
Statutory goals of the RCSL are to establish personal contacts between scholars from different countries working in the field of legal sociology, to disseminate and exchange relevant information and to promote legal sociology as an academic subject. Annual conferences, the establishment of permanent working groups on special topics and (since 1989) the International Institute for the Sociology of Law serve to achieve these goals .
The RCSL has around 300 members worldwide. They elect a president and a board every four (until 2010: three) years. The current president is Vittoria Olgiati (Italy).
literature
- Vincenzo Ferrari, Vittorio Olgiati (Ed.): 30 Years for the Sociology of Law. Oñati 1991.