Law evolutionary trends

Abstract

Manfred Rehbinder (Berlin 1935), assistant to Ernst E. Hirsch, obtained his habilitation in the Freien Universität Berlin, and taught at the universities of Belefeld (1969-1973) and Zúrich (1973-2003). He is —as suggested, for instance, by Alfons Mora— one of the greatest precursors of empirical socio-legal studies, part of these works having been published by the German Ministry of Justice. However, the text that is presented, and which was published in the Anales in an issue devoted to legal sociology (issue 13, 1973), is of a predominantly theoretical character. Using his knowledge of positive German law, Manfred Rehbinder sketches a number of general trends that turn out to be very useful to understand the changes taking place at that time, and whose implications can be still felt nowadays: the novel symptom has now become a commonplace. The rationalization of law, its increasing homogeneity, the increase in legal matters and structures, the use of scientific paradigms by the law, are the tendencies in which this work is focused.