ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. RASHMI
RANJAN MISHRA,HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LAW for
providing me an opportunity to do my project work in
‘’DOCTRINAL AND NON-DOCTRINAL RESEARCH’’ .
I would also like to thank all my friends for helping and
making the project successful. This acknowledgement is one
way where I can actually thank the people who have been
instrumental in the making of this project. With their help the
project was done with ease.
I would like to thank a lot of people without whose co-
operation and support working on this project would not have
been so pleasurable and interesting.
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CONTENTS
SERIAL PAGE
NUMBER
Name of the Topic NUMBER
1 INTRODUCTION 3-5
2 DOCTRINAL RESEARCH 6
2.1 CONCEPT OF DOCTRINAL RESEARCH 6-7
2.2 ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF DOCTRINAL RESEARCH 8-9
2.3 TOOLS OF DOCTRINAL LEGAL RESEARCH 10
2.4 MERITS OF DOCTRINAL RESEARCH 11-12
2.5 DEMERITS OF DOCTRINAL RESEARCH 13-14
3 NON-DOCTRINAL RESEARCH 15
3.1 CONCEPT OF NON-DOCTRINAL RESEARCH 15-17
3.2 ESSENTIALS CHARACTERISTICS OF NON-DOCTRINAL 18-19
RESEARCH
3.3 TOOLS OF NON-DOCTRINAL RESEARCH 20
3.4 MERITS OF NON-DOCTRINAL RESEARCH 21-22
3.5 DEMERITS OF NON-DOCTRINAL RESEARCH 23-24
4 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DOCTRINAL AND NON- 25-26
DOCTRINAL RTESEARCH
5 CONCLUSION 27-28
6 BIBLIOGRAPHY 29
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INTRODUCTION
Research is basically a scientific systematic investigation into
and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts.
The origin of the word lies in the French word “re” meaning
‘’expressing intensive force” and “cerchier” meaning “to
search”.In a general sense it can be said that research includes
gathering of data, information and facts for the advancement
of knowledge. But in a formal sense research is performing a
methodological study in order to prove a hypothesis or finding
the answer of a specific question. Research must be scientific,
systematic, objective and must follow a series of steps and a
standard protocol.1
Legal Research is a Research pertaining to law. It is the
systematic investigation of a legal fact that increases the sum of
knowledge pertaining to law. It is an addition of something to
an existing knowledge, or refute something into an
existing knowledge. Law as per legal research
1. Mona purohit; legal system and research methodology;CLP;3rd Edition 2014; Reprint 2015
Page 3 of 29
attracts judicial pronouncements, the prior stages of making
and unmaking law, historical antecedents, subsequent.2
There are different methods of research that may be applicable
in law. They can be characterized as multidisciplinary,
doctrinal, empirical or non-doctrinal research. The main two
types of legal research are:
Doctrinal Research : It is a theoretical research and it is pure
in nature. Conventional legal sources like reports of
committees, legal history, judicial pronouncements, facts
passed by legislature and parliament etc are the sources
of doctrinal legal research.
Non-Doctrinal Research:It is also known as empirical research
or socio-legal research and relies on experience and
observation. It is a trans-boundary research but its
foundation is on doctrinal research only. Non-doctrinal legal
research tries to investigate through empirical data, how law
2 .[Link]
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and legal institutions affect human attitudes and what impact
on society they create.3
[Link]
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DOCTRINAL RESEARCH
CONCEPT OF DOCTRINAL RESEARCH:
Doctrinal research is concerned with legal prepositions and
doctrines. The sources of data are legal and appellate court
decisions.4
Doctrinal research, also called traditional research, is not
concerned with people but with documents and differs from
the non-doctrinal also called empirical research.5
The doctrinal research means a research that has been
carried out by way of analyzing the existing statutory
provisions and cases by applying the reasoning power, and that
has been carried out on a legal proposition or propositions.6
Doctrinal research involves analysis of case law, arranging,
ordering and systematizing legal propositions and study of
4.[Link]
[Link]
6.[Link]
Page 6 of 29
legal institutions through legal reasoning or rational deduction.
One of the purposes of the traditional legal research is
ascertaining a legal rule for the purpose of solving a problem.
Hence quality of doctrinal research depends upon the source
material on which the researcher depends upon for his study. 7
As the major portion of the research methodology concerns
with the identification of authoritative the sources and use of
techniques to find them out, a doctrinal researcher should
know how to use a law library. The laws on social welfare have
placed great burden on courts of law, in a dynamic society.
There will be gaps in statutes and the courts have to evolve
doctrinal principles, standards and norms, generally. Further,
there will be ambiguity in the statutory language. A word may
become vague during its application to a particular case, which
appears to be clear during the enactment of law.8
[Link]
[Link]
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ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF
DOCTRINAL RESEARCH:9
1. This type of research involves analysis of legal propositions
or legal concepts.
2. In this type of research a conventional source of data is used.
3. Legal propositions from enactments, administrative rules
and regulations, cases of courts etc. can be a part of
doctrinal legal research.
4. Doctrinal Research includes research into legal concepts and
principles of all types ' cases, statutes and rules. Doctrinal
Research focuses on legal data gathered from case laws,
legislation, journal articles, law reform reports,
parliamentary materials, policy documents, relevant text
books etc.
[Link] note 2
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5. Doctrinal Research is a research “into” law and legal concepts
and not “about” law. It is theoretical and pure in nature and
hence called arm-chair research.
6. Doctrine is a synthesis of various rules, principles, norms,
interpretive guidelines and values. The term doctrinal in
case of doctrinal legal research is closely linked with the
doctrine of precedent.
7. Doctrinal Research is a research into the black letters of law.
Here, ascertainment of law is necessary.
8. Doctrinal Researcher makes his research based on secondary
data which is relevant to his proposition.
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TOOLS OF DOCTRINAL LEGAL RESEARCH10
1. Statutory materials.
2. Reports of committees.
3. Legal History.
4. Judgments, Case Reports and Case Digests.
5. Standard Textbooks and reference books.
6. Legal Periodicals.
7. Commentaries.
8. Govt. Reports.
9. Parliamentary & Debates.
10. Resources.
10. Ibid
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MERITS OF DOCTRINAL RESEARCH:11
1. In a doctrinal Research, the researcher is always engaged
in research work, analysis of case laws and judicial
pronouncements etc. unlike that in case of non-doctrinal
research. Also, doctrinal research is less time consuming.
2. It provides the lawyers, judges and others with the
instruments needed to reach a legal decision.
3. Doctrinal legal Research helps in continuity, consistency
and certainty of law. Such a research contributes in our
understanding of law, legal concepts, legal doctrines etc.
4. Such a Research provides quick answers to the legal
problems.
5. Such a Research helps in pointing out the inbuilt loopholes,
gaps, ambiguities or inconsistencies in the substantive law.
[Link]
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6. Doctrinal Research always helps informing a strong and
solid basis for the non-doctrinal research.
7. Doctrinal Researcher systemizes the legal propositions that
are a result of his rational reasoning and critical analysis. In
this process he may initiate a new Theory in the concerned field
of law.
8. Doctrinal Research helps in predicting how the legal
principles, concepts or doctrines would proceed in future.
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DEMERITS OF DOCTRINAL RESEARCH12
1. Doctrinal legal research is basically the result of individual
analysis of a researcher and the perception of a legal fact of
one researcher may vary from another researcher. However,
each of these perceptions is equally convincing and logical.
Thus, doctrinal legal research is subjective in nature.
2. In the recent past where there has been an economic,
political and social change, more emphasis is given on the
people and institution regulated by law. Law has been
attributed with the role of social engineering. There are a
number of facts which lie outside the legal system which
may be responsible for non-implementation or poor
implementation of a given piece of legislation. But, doctrinal
legal research do not look into these factors. Doctrinal
Research does not go beyond the sphere of law.
[Link]
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3. In many cases it is seen that there is a gap between the
actual social behavior and the behavior demanded by the
legal norm. Doctrinal Research does not address these gaps.
4. Doctrinal legal researcher puts emphasis on traditional
sources of law and judicial pronouncements of appellate
courts. The actual practice of lower courts and
administrative agencies with judicial and quasi-judicial
functions remain unexplored because their judgments are
not reported.
5. In case of a doctrinal research, the researcher looks into
statutory materials, judicial pronouncements, case reports
and principles or doctrines relating to it in order to deduce
legal propositions. His inquiry into law however does not get
support from social facts or values. As a result, these kinds of
researches become merely theoretical and far away from
social reality. Such a research is incomplete and inadequate.
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NON-DOCTRINAL RESEARCH
13
CONCEPT OF NON-DOCTRINAL RESEARCH:
Non-doctrinal research, also known as social-legal research, is
research that employs methods taken from other disciplines to
generate empirical data that answers research questions. It can
be a problem, policy, or a reform of the existing law. A legal
non-doctrinal finding can be qualitative or quantitative, and a
dogmatic non-doctrinal finding can be part of a large-scale
project. The non-doctrinal approach allows the researcher to
conduct research that analyses the law from the perspective of
other science disciplines, and to employ those disciplines in
drafting the law. For example, in the behavioral sciences, there
[Link]
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is a standard form of consumer contract that contributes to the
study of psychological phenomena:
1. The tendency of consumers not to read the standard form
contract,
2. The inability of consumers to evaluate the terms of the
contract correctly once they do read and
3. The ability of sellers to deal with consumers. Because it uses
non-sectarian legal experimental data, it provides vital insights
about the law in context, i.e. how the law works out in the real
world. Legal research is experimental and valuable in detecting
and explaining practices and procedures in legal and
regulatory systems. It is also valuable in the settling disputes,
and impacts the legal phenomena of social institutions and
businesses. Similarly, experimental legal research in economics
applies legal analysis, statistical inference, and economic
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modeling, to the core areas of national and international law,
such as tort, property, contracts, criminal law, law enforcement
and litigation. Earlier research can be used to analyze the
economics of legal negligence theory.
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ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF NON-
DOCTRINAL RESEARCH:
1. It tries to find out the impact of non-legal events upon the
legal decision.14
2. It seeks to identify and appraise the degree of variables
influence the outcome and15
3. It tries to find out the effect of each decision on people and
society as such legal decision making. The field of empirical
research is wider and the availability of authoritative sources
are very less which involve several new techniques which are
unknown to the research.16
[Link] note 6
[Link]
16 .Ibid
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4. This type of research is conducted to assess the impact of
non-legal event on legal provisions or law making process.17
5. Variables which influence the legal process play an
important role.18
6. Consequences of any law or principle of law on the society
can be traced.19
7. Co-relation between law and other non-legal fact is the
outcome of this research.20
17. Supra note 1
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
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TOOLS OF NON-DOCTRINAL RESEARCH:21
1. Meeting.
2. Survey.
3. Schedule.
4. Judgment.
5. Participant or non-participant.
6. Sampling.
7. Case study.
8. Posted or unpublished resources.
21.[Link]
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MERITS OF NON-DOCTRINAL RESEARCH:22
1. Non-doctrinal research enhances lawyer’s ability to
understand the implications and effects on the society.
2. Legal researches can use social science methodologies
themselves to investigate issues, or they can collaborate
with skilled researchers from other disciplines.
3. It highlights the gap between legislative goals and social
reality and thereby depicts a true picture of law-in-action.
4. It also highlights the gap in relation to the practice of law
enforcers, regulators and adjudicators and use or under-
use of the law by intended beneficiaries of the law.
22.[Link]
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5. It highlights the reasons behind making the law
‘symbolic’, less-effective or ineffective.
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DEMERITS OF NON-DOCTRINAL RESEARCH:23
1. Financial support is lacking.
2. Other disciplines had shed away from the study of legal
order has been shed away
3. Due to their preoccupation with their profession, the
contributions of legal
4. Legal researchers lack a tradition that enables them to
strengthen the empirical
5. Lack of training in the use of techniques of this empirical
research. Most of the steps by other disciplines academicians
are very less research of research such as collection of data,
field work, formation of hypothesis, etc. are unknown to the
legal researcher.
23. Supra note 6
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6. There is an unfavorable and arrangement attitude towards
the empirical research. The use of qualitative measurement
techniques are very difficult to understand by legal
researchers.
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DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DOCTRINAL AND
NON-DOCTRINAL RESEARCH:24
1. Doctrinal research lays much emphasis upon legal
principles but non-doctrinal research lays lesser
emphasis upon doctrines.
2. In doctrinal research, researcher uses traditional
source for data but non-doctrinal research is not
solely dependent on traditional or conventional
sources for data.
3. In doctrinal research scholar seeks to answer one or
two legal propositions or questions, on the other hand
non-doctrinal research involves number of questions
and large area.
24. Supra note 1
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4. Doctrinal research is a theoretical study but non-
doctrinal research involves empirical study.
5. Mostly secondary source are used in doctrinal
research and primary data are used in non-doctrinal
research.
6. Doctrinal research is concerned with legal
propositions; on the other hand non-doctrinal
research is more concerned with social values and
people.
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CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I can say that it is easy to target a specific
methodology and identify its strengths and weaknesses.
However, it must be noted that doctrinal and non-doctrinal
legal research are the ultimate way to find the answers that
have been raised in the context of attempts to understand the
emerging issues in the framework of the law. There is no
hierarchy between methodologies and they are all of equal
importance for the development and understanding of the law.
What is crucial is that researchers must try and equip
themselves with the necessary skills to enable them to
comfortably meet their research objectives. Undoubtedly, a
well-versed scholar will be aware of the advantages and
disadvantages of any particular methodology, and will work to
obtain the benefits that result from a better quality of work.
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Often, the combination of methodologies, i.e. a mixed method
using ideological, social, and legal, can work together to
achieve a better understanding of the law. Thus, postgraduate
scholars would do well to equip themselves by using alternative
research methodologies.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS :
1. Shipra Agarwal; Legal Research Methodology; Allahabad Law
Agency; 6th Edition 2016
2. Mona Purohit; legal system and research methodology;CLP;3rd
Edition 2014; Reprint 2015
WEBSITES:
1. [Link]
2. [Link]
3. [Link]
4. [Link]
5. [Link]
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