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Unit 1: Non-Doctrinal (Socio-Legal) Research — Concept, Nature and Method
1.1 What Non-Doctrinal Research Is
Doctrinal research (Seminar-I, LAW5506) studies the law in the books. Non-doctrinal research studies law in action: how rules actually work in society. It is empirical — built on data collected from the world — and socio-legal: it reads law together with society, using tools from social science.
| Point | Doctrinal | Non-doctrinal |
|---|---|---|
| Source of truth | Texts: statutes, cases | Field: people, records, behaviour |
| Question type | What is the rule? | Does the rule work? For whom? |
| Method | Analysis, interpretation | Survey, interview, observation |
| Output | Doctrine, commentary | Findings, evaluation, recommendations |
| Skill | Reading law closely | Designing and measuring |
1.2 Nature and Scope
Non-doctrinal research may be quantitative (numbers: how many, how much), qualitative (meaning: why, how experienced), or mixed. Its questions in law: implementation gaps (is the Domestic Violence (Offence and Punishment) Act working for survivors?), access barriers (who reaches the courts and who does not), attitudes (do officers understand the rule?), and impact (did the reform change behaviour?).
1.3 The Method’s Ladder
- Problem — a real-world legal problem observed (not a purely textual puzzle).
- Question — the precise empirical question: what do you want to know about the world?
- Design — what data, from whom, how collected, how analysed.
- Ethics clearance — consent, confidentiality, do-no-harm.
- Data collection — the tools of Unit 3.
- Analysis — Unit 4’s techniques.
- Findings and recommendations — law-reform-facing conclusions.
1.4 The Course’s Design (from the Course Description)
This seminar is a practical exercise: each student selects a topic related to law or legal issues, obtains the seminar teacher/convener’s approval, collects data using the prescribed tools — questionnaire survey, interview, focused group discussion, consultation, and field observation — and prepares a non-doctrinal seminar paper analysing the data, presented to the class. Feedback from the presentation and the teacher must be incorporated before submitting the final paper.
1.5 Evaluation Scheme (the 80–20–100 Arithmetic)
The paper carries 200 marks: 80 internal (seminar teacher), 20 viva-voce (3-member committee; each member with at least 10 years of experience in teaching law, practice, judging, or prosecution), 100 external examination. The 6 credits split: 3 credits of classes, 3 credits of library visits and field data-collection activity. The marks arithmetic rewards the whole process — proposal, field work, presentation, and final text — not a last-minute document.
Exam Focus (Viva’s Likely Questions)
- Doctrinal vs non-doctrinal — the table.
- Quantitative vs qualitative with one legal example each.
- The seven-step ladder.
- The 80–20–100 scheme and the 6-credit design.
Model Questions
- “Non-doctrinal research tests the law’s promises against its practice.” Explain with an example.
- Frame one doctrinal and one non-doctrinal question on the same topic (lawyerless divorce; consumer complaints).
- Explain the course’s tool-kit (the five prescribed tools) in one line each.
- Short notes: (a) socio-legal research; (b) mixed method; (c) evaluation scheme.
📚 Get the complete notes: Download the full Seminar-II (Non-Doctrinal) PDF (all units) — Law Info Nepal Original Notes Series.