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Law as a Process of Decision: A Policy-Oriented Approach to Legal Study*

Law as a Process of Decision: A Policy-Oriented Approach to Legal Study* LAW AS A PROCESS OF DECISION: A POLICY-ORIENTED APPROACH TO LEGAL STUDY* Myres S. McDougal IT MAY BE SEEN, if we address ourselves to certain fundamentals, that those who are just beginning the study of law and those who are in mid-passage, or growing old, share a common, continuous responsibility for achieving conceptions of law and of legal study adequate to the crises of our time. For appropriate perspective, let us first reflect for a moment upon the social role of the legal profession. Perhaps the best way in brief to describe the distinctive role of the lawyer is to say that he is an especially skilled expert in the use of authoritative language and authoritative procedures for affecting or influencing decisions. Some freshman law students will, thus, if they follow in the footsteps of their predecessors, themselves become government officials, making decisions in the name of authoritative community expectation and with community coercion behind them. They will, for example, become senators, congressmen, governors, mayors, judges, aldermen, state representa- tives, delegates to the United Nations, and so on. Others will become the counsellors and advocates, in large and small affairs, of the individuals and groups who seek decisions from http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png American Journal of Jurisprudence Oxford University Press

Law as a Process of Decision: A Policy-Oriented Approach to Legal Study*

McDougal, Myres S.
American Journal of Jurisprudence , Volume 1 (1) – Jan 1, 1956
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Publisher
Oxford University Press
Copyright
© 1956 by The University of Notre Dame
ISSN
0065-8995
eISSN
2049-6494
DOI
10.1093/ajj/1.1.53
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

LAW AS A PROCESS OF DECISION: A POLICY-ORIENTED APPROACH TO LEGAL STUDY* Myres S. McDougal IT MAY BE SEEN, if we address ourselves to certain fundamentals, that those who are just beginning the study of law and those who are in mid-passage, or growing old, share a common, continuous responsibility for achieving conceptions of law and of legal study adequate to the crises of our time. For appropriate perspective, let us first reflect for a moment upon the social role of the legal profession. Perhaps the best way in brief to describe the distinctive role of the lawyer is to say that he is an especially skilled expert in the use of authoritative language and authoritative procedures for affecting or influencing decisions. Some freshman law students will, thus, if they follow in the footsteps of their predecessors, themselves become government officials, making decisions in the name of authoritative community expectation and with community coercion behind them. They will, for example, become senators, congressmen, governors, mayors, judges, aldermen, state representa- tives, delegates to the United Nations, and so on. Others will become the counsellors and advocates, in large and small affairs, of the individuals and groups who seek decisions from

Journal

American Journal of Jurisprudence – Oxford University Press

Published: Jan 1, 1956

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