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The Legal Cultures of Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

James L. Gibson  and
Gregory A. Caldeira
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Abstract

Sociolegal scholars have become increasingly interested in comparative legal cultures, largely under the hypotheses that what people think about the law and the values embedded therein has something to do with how they behave and, ultimately, some consequences for the larger political and legal systems. For instance, attitudes toward the rule of law no doubt influence (though they do not determine) people's willingness to comply with laws. Most agree that one cannot understand the role of law in society without understanding something of legal cultures. We present an investigation into the legal cultures of the countries of the European Union. Drawing on mass surveys conducted within each of the countries (including a separate sample in East Germany), we explore popular attitudes toward various dimensions of law: support for the rule of law; perceptions that law is a nonneutral, repressive force; and support for individual liberty. Although our analysis focuses on national differences, we also explore within-system variation (e.g., across various socioeconomic strata). Ultimately, our purpose is to document cross-national differences in legal cultures and to take some tentative steps toward explaining the origins of these differences.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , 1996 , pp. 55 - 85
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 by The Law and Society Association

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Footnotes

This revision of a paper delivered at the 1995 Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Palmer House Hilton, Chicago, 6–8 April 1995, is a joint product of the two authors. We are indebted to the (U.S.) National Science Foundation (SBR-9213905, SBR-9311397, SBR-9213201, and SBR-9312689) and the (German) von Humboldt Stiftung for major support for this project. We also acknowledge the support of the Limited-Grant-in-Aid Program (University of Houston). None of these agencies bears any responsibility for the results or interpretations. We are indebted to Dominique Van-craeynest (Director of INRA) and Anna Melich and Eric Marlier (both of the Eurobarometer) for their technical assistance on this project. Without the extraordinary support and collaboration of Karlheinz Reif (Director of the Eurobarometer) we could not have brought this project to fruition. Mark Shephard, Kris Guffey, Pam Moore, and Marika Litias provided valuable research assistance. Peter D. Russell and Lynn Mather provided most helpful and insightful comments on an earlier version.

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