Roger B. M. Cotterrell is the Anniversary Professor of Legal Theory at
Queen Mary University of London
, mottoeng = With united powers
, established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College
, type = Public researc ...
and was made a
fellow of the British Academy
Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are:
# Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom
# C ...
in 2005. Previously he was the Acting Head of the Department of Law (1989–90), Head of the Department of Law (1990-1), Professor of Legal Theory (1990–2005) and the Dean of the Faculty of Laws (1993-6) at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London.
Background
Roger Cotterrell studied law at
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
as an undergraduate and postgraduate and began his teaching career at the
University of Leicester
, mottoeng = So that they may have life
, established =
, type = public research university
, endowment = £20.0 million
, budget = £326 million
, chancellor = David Willetts
, vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah
, head_labe ...
as a lecturer in law in 1969. After returning to London in 1973, he studied
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
and
politics
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
at
Birkbeck College
Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public university, public research university, located in Bloomsbury, London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the federal Universit ...
(1975-8) while teaching law full-time at Queen Mary College. Thereafter he was one of the small group of law and sociology academics in Britain who first specialised in the new field of
sociology of law
The sociology of law (legal sociology, or law and society) is often described as a sub-discipline of sociology or an interdisciplinary approach within legal studies. Some see sociology of law as belonging "necessarily" to the field of sociology, ...
from the 1970s. His leading book on the subject has been translated into several languages. From the late 1990s he developed a "law and community" approach to socio-legal theory, attempting to replace sociology of law's traditional "
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
and
society
A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Socie ...
" approach, and stressing links with
comparative law
Comparative law is the study of differences and similarities between the law (legal systems) of different countries. More specifically, it involves the study of the different legal "systems" (or "families") in existence in the world, including the ...
and the study of law's embeddedness in culture. The approach has influenced research in such diverse fields as communal property rights, sentencing policy, and foreign investment law.
He has also sought to re-define relations between jurisprudence and sociology, reformulating the idea of a sociological jurisprudence, and has argued that the role of jurists must be value-oriented rather than merely technical. His writings insist on clearly distinguishing jurisprudence (as the professional theoretical and practical knowledge of jurists) from the currently dominant forms of Anglophone legal philosophy.
In 2013 he was awarded the Socio-Legal Studies Association prize for "contributions to the socio-legal community" and in 2014 was made a
fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences The Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) is an award granted by the Academy of Social Sciences to leading academics, policy-makers, and practitioners of the social sciences.
Fellows were previously known as Academicians and used th ...
. In 2022 he was awarded the Dennis Leslie Mahoney Prize in Legal Theory.
He has also broadcast, published and given public talks on
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
. He wrote profiles of musicians and reviewed music for many magazines from the late 1960s until the 1990s, and has edited and contributed to books on jazz. From 1975 to 1992 he wrote regularly for the Warsaw-based magazine ''Jazz Forum'', published internationally in English, German and Polish editions.
''Jazz Forum''.
/ref> His son is the artist David Cotterrel
Main publications
;Books:
*''The Sociology of Law: An Introduction''. London: Butterworths / Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
(2nd edn, 1992)
*''Law, Democracy and Social Justice''. (co-edited with Brian Bercusson) Oxford: Blackwell Blackwell may refer to:
Places
;Canada
* Blackwell, Ontario
;United Kingdom
* Blackwell, County Durham, England
* Blackwell, Carlisle, Cumbria, England
* Blackwell (historic house), South Lakeland, Cumbria, England
* Blackwell, Bolsover, Alfre ...
(1988)
*''The Politics of Jurisprudence: A Critical Introduction to Legal Philosophy''. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
(2nd edn, 2003)
*''Law and Society''. (edited) Abingdon: Routledge
Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
(1994)
*''Law's Community: Legal Ideas in Sociological Perspective''. Oxford: Clarendon Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
(1995)
*''Emile Durkheim: Law in a Moral Domain''. Stanford: Stanford University Press
Stanford University Press (SUP) is the publishing house of Stanford University. It is one of the oldest academic presses in the United States and the first university press to be established on the West Coast. It was among the presses officially ...
/ Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
Edinburgh University Press is a scholarly publisher of academic books and journals, based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
History
Edinburgh University Press was founded in the 1940s and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh ...
(1999)
*''Sociological Perspectives on Law''. (edited) Abingdon: Routledge
Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
, 2 vols (2001)
*''Bass Lines - A Life in Jazz''. (with Coleridge Goode
George Coleridge Emerson Goode (29 November 1914 – 2 October 2015) was a British Jamaican-born jazz bassist best known for his long collaboration with alto saxophonist Joe Harriott. Goode was a member of Harriott's innovatory jazz quintet thro ...
) London: Northway (2002)
*''Law in Social Theory''. (edited) Abingdon: Routledge
Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
(2006)
*''Law, Culture and Society: Legal Ideas in the Mirror of Social Theory''. Abingdon: Routledge
Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
(2006)
*''Living Law: Studies in Legal and Social Theory''. Abingdon: Routledge
Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
(2008)
*''Emile Durkheim: Justice, Morality and Politics''. (edited) Abingdon: Routledge
Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
(2010)
*''Authority in Transnational Legal Theory''. (co-edited with Maksymilian Del Mar) Cheltenham: Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...
(2016)
*''Sociological Jurisprudence: Juristic Thought and Social Inquiry''. New York / London: Routledge
Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
(2018)
Other sources
* Richard Nobles and David Schiff (eds), ''Law, Society and Community: Socio-Legal Essays in Honour of Roger Cotterrell''. Abingdon: Routledge
Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
(2014)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cotterrell, Roger
Alumni of University College London
Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London
Academics of the University of Leicester
Academics of Queen Mary University of London
Fellows of the British Academy
British legal scholars
British music critics
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)