Blackstone's Tower: The English Law School - College of Social ...

The Quest For a Core
methodological perspective for law as a discipline. 67 Rather the aim
has been to free legal studies from the grip of a rather narrow orthodoxy
rather than to replace it with a new one. Nevertheless, there
are both theoretical puzzlements and practical problems that need
to be confronted by those who are sympathetic to the general enterprise.
At this stage in the development of academic law I believe
that many of these problems are unresolved. Substantial progress
has been made, but there is still an unfinished agenda. 68
One problem for those concerned with broadening the study of
law is how to keep a general sense of direction and particular enterprises
manageable. The central idea of mainstream American Realism
was encapsulated in the proposition that for most purposes,
especially for understanding legal phenomena, the study of rules
alone is not enough. 69 This raises questions about what is enough?
If the purpose is quite limited and clearly defined, it may be quite
easy to provide a workable answer. If the purpose is more general
or open-ended, then almost endless vistas and lines of enquiry may
open up. This is, of course, not peculiar to law. I have sometimes
called this the Pandora's Box Problem. 70 The metaphor needs to
be used sparingly, for Pandora, the first woman, fashioned by
Hephaestus on the command of Zeus, is notable not only for her
curiosity. The story of her box (or jar) is nicely ambiguous. According
to Hesiod, Zeus gave Pandora a jar that contained all manner
of miseries and evils; when, contrary to instructions, she opened it
they flew out all over the world and contaminated it; when the lid
was replaced, only Delusive Hope remained. Those who are more
sympathetic to the social sciences will prefer the later version
which, instead of miseries, substitutes blessings which would have
been preserved for the human race had the jar not been opened
by one of its members. Both versions share one moral: unless you
rein in your curiosity, things get out of control. 71
I suspect that one reason for the seeming fragmentation and pluralism
of modern legal studies is a reluctance to confront some of
the problems of broadening academic law in a coherent way that
combines appropriate theory (generally middle order) with explicit
concern for method. In the professional sector the skills movement
has made some progress in this direction for relatively clear and
limited purposes. It is early days and there are some distinct limitations:
the job analysis of lawyers' operations is still rather crude;
concern with minimum competence has overshadowed the
exploration of excellence; and the predominating educational
theory is too bureaucratic-rational for my taste. Nevertheless, the
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