NCJ Number
125510
Journal
Law and Society Review Volume: 24 Issue: 2 Dated: (1990) Pages: 353-356
Date Published
1990
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This introduction to 10 articles on new theory for longitudinal trial-court research summarizes the articles and synthesizes the articles' perspectives.
Abstract
Lawrence Friedman has characterized litigation research as comprised of two strands: "dispute-centered" and "court-centered" research. These classifications are suggestive of a problem at the core of the newer understandings of trial courts and litigation: the impulse to distinguish between actors and institutions. One essay argues that theoretical approaches that attempt to understand actor orientations and the derivation of meaning provide underpinnings for research on dispute resolution and for longitudinal studies of courts. Other essays create a bridge to relevant theoretical traditions in research on organizations and the State. The essays show that the "actor" and "institution" perspectives are complimentary. As citizens of officials perceive conflict and act with regard to conflict or dispute resolution, these actors' choices are constrained by expectations based on the intentions of others with whom they must interact, resulting in continuing patterns of interactions termed "structure."