Description

The phrase ‘legal method’ is made up of two words -‘legal’ and ‘method.’ The word “method,” in ordinary parlance, means a way of doing something or the quality of being well planned and organized. The word “legal,” which is an adjective, connotes something connected with the law. Law operates in a society based on certain methods, that is, in accordance with certain processes, which must be properly understood for law to be put to best uses as an instrument of social control. Legal method can therefore be defined as an attempt to explain or analyse the technique of ‘thinking like a lawyer. In other words, it is learning to study the use and construction of legal rules, with a view to gaining insight into how law is planned and organized to achieve its objectives in a society.

This task, like most tasks, is not as easy as it may seems. This is mainly because everyone approaches the subject of legal analysis from different perspectives based on their background and experiences. In that type of situation, the existence of multiplicity of approaches is inevitable. However, there are some areas of agreement or consensus in virtually all the legal analysis.