Sociological school of law — Roscoe Pound's Social Engineering Theory

When the State builds a flyover, it does not ask whether the road is moral or whether it grew out of ancient custom. It asks who will use it, whose homes will be displaced, what traffic will ease, and how to balance these. Law works in much the same way, says the sociological school: it is a tool used by society to get things done and to balance the competing demands of people living together. Roscoe Pound turned this into a famous image, the lawyer and judge as social engineers.

In two minutes

The sociological school studies law as a social institution in action, judged by its effects; Pound's social engineering theory says law's task is to satisfy as many competing interests as possible with the least friction and waste.

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