This article is written by Upasana Sarkar. This article deals with doctrinal legal research and non-doctrinal legal research and provides a comprehensive understanding of their concept, purpose, importance, methodology, advantages, and disadvantages. It also provides an extensive and detailed study of these two categories of legal research and their distinctions.

Introduction 

Research means a thorough study of a particular matter by collecting information about it. The expression ‘research’ is derived from the French word ‘recherché’, which means ‘thorough inspection’. Research is the systematic and methodical examination of data using scientific methods for investigating and analysing a particular research problem. Research is done for exploring and understanding new problems, finding solutions for them, or acquiring new knowledge on an existing matter. It helps in gathering information and evidence so as to reach a definite conclusion. 

Legal research is a systematic method of studying legal problems in a scientific way that involves discovering new facts, validating existing material, analysing sequences and inter-relationships between the subjects, and developing tools and concepts based on the information. The main aim of legal research is to modify concepts, test hypotheses, and foster just and equitable government rules. The importance of legal research has far-reaching implications. It influences law-making decisions, addresses commercial difficulties, supports judicial decisions, improves legal knowledge, provides legal awareness, guides legal practitioners, and enhances the justice system of the country. 

In the words of Collis and Hussey,” Research is basically a systematic, thorough, and rigorous process of investigation that increases knowledge.” Legal research focuses on the study of legal problems and issues. It deals with a systematic study of legal statutes, principles, regulations, and cases. It is used for solving legal problems, supporting legal arguments, providing guidance for legal decision-making, and enhancing the justice system. Legal research deals with activities like gathering information, updating legal knowledge, altering those that are required, and introducing them in our legal system. It plays an important role in framing a relationship between law and society by introducing new rules, Codes, and Acts. This legal research is also done in a scientific field. It assists in discovering new facts, verifying the old facts, introducing new knowledge, analysing both the old and new ones, explaining them in a proper manner, and developing them. 

Types of legal research 

Legal research has been mainly classified into two distinct kinds. One is the doctrinal legal research that helps in analysing the theoretical aspects of legal issues, and the second is the non-doctrinal legal research that helps in discovering the practical problems and finding solutions for those legal problems.

Doctrinal legal research 

Doctrinal legal research is one that is conducted on a legal proposition through the analysis of the existing provisions of the statutes and cases using the power of reasoning. This research is theoretical in nature as its detail legal concepts and principles are from various sources like legislation, precedents, and others to inspect them for reaching a valid conclusion. 

The origin of doctrinal research came from the term ‘doctrine,’ which means ‘principle’ or ‘normal governing tenet’. It is done through a rigorous and systematic study, analysis, and critical evaluation of legal doctrines, rules, concepts, and their inter-relationship. This research is also known as ‘Pure Theoretical Research’.

In doctrinal legal research, the research is mainly a library-based study where statutes, judgements, magazines, articles, legal journals, and others could be found. Relevant information and data on a particular legal problem can be collected, and after going through them, it would be easier to reach a conclusion by critically analysing them. This research is done by following traditional legal research methods. This research helps in analysing, interpreting, and synthesising this information and data to answer a legal problem or to develop new legal theories. 

Definitions of doctrinal research given by jurists

Prof. S. N. Jain observed, “Doctrinal research involves analysis of case law, arranging, ordering, and systematising legal propositions, and study of legal institutions through legal reasoning or rational deduction.”

According to Dr. S.R. Myneni, “doctrinal research means research that has been carried out on a legal proposition or propositions by way of analysing the existing statutory provisions and cases by applying the reasoning power.”

Objectives of doctrinal legal research

Doctrinal legal research is done by thoroughly reading theoretical study materials that are present in a library. So it is a book-based examination of different statutes, legal books, laws, and other legal literature and journals to find an unambiguous solution to a legal proposition. It is mainly based on secondary sources of information, as it does not require fieldwork or experiments. It begins with several legal propositions at the beginning, and the entire inspection is focused on determining the soundness of the underlying hypothesis. Its objective is to gain knowledge from different legal documents and additional sources and utilise them for deducing an adequate response to the legal question through logical and rational reasoning and interpretation. 

Sources of doctrinal research

The sources that are mainly used in doctrinal legal research are conventional legal sources. The sources not only consist of statutes and enactments but also legal history, judicial pronouncements, reports of the committee, and so on. The Acts that have been passed by the Legislature also fall under this category of sources. The decisions and judgements of the various High Courts and the Supreme Court are also sources of doctrinal legal research. Sometimes, textbooks, commentaries, and periodicals are also referred to while doing doctrinal legal research, though they are not as authentic as original sources like the Acts, enactments, and cases that are published in authorised websites, books, articles, and journals.

Characteristics of doctrinal legal research

The essential characteristics of doctrinal legal research are as follows:

• It involves the analysis of legal concepts or propositions.
• It mainly used conventional sources of information.
• It may include legal concepts derived from enactments, regulations, administrative guidelines, or judicial decisions.
• It is used for doing research into legal concepts and principles in all kinds of cases, rules, and statutes. This research mainly focuses on legal information and data that are collected from legislation, law journals, reports, case laws, textbooks, and so on.
• It is more concerned with research in law than research about law. This type of research focuses only on the current state of the law instead of seeking public opinion on how it should be.
• It is closely linked with the doctrine of precedent.
• It is research into the black letters of the law. 
• This research is based on secondary data that is available and relevant to the study.

Normative character of doctrinal legal research

The normative character of doctrinal legal research in a particular legal problem is concerned with the discovery and development of legal research and doctrines for publishing them in journals and textbooks that question what law is. The doctrinal legal research answers this question, which is, ‘What is law?’ The legal rules and regulations are normative in character, as they tell us how one should behave as an individual. It does not take any initiative to explain, predict, or even understand human behaviour, just to discuss it. In short, it can be said that doctrinal legal research studies about the goals of law and not what it is about.

Purpose of doctrinal research

The following are the purposes of the doctrinal legal research:

• It constructs new legal principles, doctrines, and theories. Then it tries to verify its validity and add new knowledge to it.
• It helps in maintaining continuity, consistency, and certainty of law in society.
• It tries to resolve disputes with clients in various matters by applying statutory laws and related cases. The outcomes become more predictable as they are derived from established sources.
• It provides assistance or advice to the courts or clients about applying legal doctrines to a particular case or legal event at the time when required.
• It is also helpful for examining judicial opinions and determining which opinion is to be preferred. If there is a conflict in the decisions of the courts, it provides suggestions for resolving those conflicts.
• It also provides tools for reaching a conclusion for lawyers and judges on multiple legal problems, usually for those who have very limited time at their disposal.
• It is also useful for conducting comparative and historical inquiries that deal with a contrasting legal regime.
• It is useful for developing legal theories that try to provide an explanation of how laws or areas of law fit together.
• It helps in identifying problems or tensions within a body of law or a legal institution.
• It also helps to separate helpful information from useless ones.

Tools used for doctrinal research

The various tools that are used for doctrinal legal research are as follows:

• Legal resources include statutes, regulations, and others.
• Legal commentaries, which include law journals and legal articles.
• Legal reviews like academic journals.
• Legal treaties.
• Case laws by studying the judicial pronouncements.
• Online resources include various online legal websites and blogs.
• Government reports
• Reports of committees

Methodology of doctrinal legal research

Doctrinal legal research focuses on theoretical research, that is, library-based study. Since it is the most common methodology of legal research, it is used by most researchers. The purpose of doctrinal legal research is to analyse, develop, and apply legal ideas and principles. It is also useful for interpreting legal documents, which include statutes, case laws, treaties, and regulations. It also provides a detailed understanding of the legal concepts, doctrines, and principles. The process for doctrinal research methodology consists of various steps, which are as follows:

• Identifying the research problem: Identification of the research problem is the first stage. It involves selecting a research problem and then defining and clarifying its scope.
• Collecting legal sources: This step involves gathering legal sources, which is necessary for research problems like statutes, case laws, regulations, and judicial decisions. This is the most important stage, as it requires extensive background reading on a particular problem using various sources like textbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias, legal articles, treatises, and journals that are followed by footnotes.
• Evaluating those legal sources: After collecting information regarding the research problem, the researcher must evaluate them to check their relevancy, trustworthiness, and credibility.
• Analysing the legal sources: Once the evaluation is done, the researcher then must analyse the legal principles, ideas, concepts, and arguments. The researcher should take into consideration all aspects of the legal sources.
• Synthesising legal principles: After analysing the legal sources, the researcher must synthesise the legal concepts and principles so as to frame a rational, logical, and coherent understanding of the legal problem.
• Applying those legal principles: After synthesising, the final stage is to apply those legal principles that have been previously analysed and synthesised to frame the legal problem or question and to finally arrive at a conclusion.

Examples of doctrinal legal research

Some of the examples of doctrinal legal research are as follows:

• Studying a series of court judgements to find out how a legal doctrine works and evolves over a period of time, like the ‘basic structure doctrine’ of the Indian Constitution.
• Evaluating legal articles, textbooks, journals, commentaries, and other legal documents to understand the ways in which scholars and jurists are interpreting various aspects of the law.
• Analysing a specific statute that has been implemented by the Legislature and its effect on different jurisdictions.

Merits of doctrinal legal research

Some of the advantages of doctrinal legal research are as follows:

• Helpful at the initial stage: It is helpful for those who are doing research in the initial stage of legal education. It is a standard approach for finding information or performing legal inquiries. This method is much easier for most scholars and law students, as plenty of resources will be available for them.
• Provides clarity to the researchers: It provides clarity to the researchers as it can give clear and concise answers to legal problems. It is mainly based on legal sources and authorised legal resources. It helps the researchers identify and analyse the legal principles, concepts, ideas, and doctrines systematically and objectively.
• Cost-effective/less expensive method: It is a cost-effective research methodology, as data collection in this research does not require expenses. The data and information are easily available on online websites, libraries, and legal documents. The researcher can analyse that information and reach a particular conclusion without much hassle.
• Consumes less time: It is also a time-efficient research methodology, as the legal sources are easily available. The researcher can at any time search for information on a particular matter and analyse it quickly and efficiently.
• Foundation for further research: It also provides a foundation for further research on a particular legal issue. The researcher gets a clear picture of the research problem and can easily identify the loopholes, inconsistencies, and ambiguities present in that particular legal problem. These help the researchers discover new aspects, develop new theories, propose new legal reforms, and conduct further research if required.
• Helps in professional development: It is helpful for the legal profession, which includes lawyers, judges, scholars, and law students, to enhance their knowledge and skills in legal fields. It gives them an extensive and deeper understanding of legal ideas, concepts, principles, and doctrines, which can be used by researchers to apply them practically in the real world.
• Provides quick solutions: It is useful as it provides quick answers to legal issues that are at hand. The information can be analysed by collecting it from all the secondary legal sources that are easily available.
• More predictable and easily manageable: Finally, it has greater control and predictability as it is based on established and authorised sources. It is easily manageable, as it focuses on the sources of jurisprudence.

Demerits of doctrinal legal research

Some of the disadvantages of doctrinal legal research are as follows:

• Based on the theoretical method: Research is mainly done based on the library sources, which are theoretical in nature. It is highly technical, conservative, and trivial in nature, as it does not take into consideration the social, economic, and political impact of the legal issue in society. It only focuses on its theoretical interpretation and analysis of them. It lacks originality as compared to non-doctrinal legal research.
• Subjective in nature: It is also subjective in nature, as the perception of one researcher may vary from another on the same legal problem. It means that another person can reach an entirely different conclusion about the same question.
• Limited scope: It has a limited scope, as it is entirely based on the study of legal sources that, most of the time, does include the non-legal aspects, which can have an effect on the legal outcome. Since its scope is limited in nature, it may not provide a detailed and comprehensive understanding of a particular legal problem.
• Lack of empirical evidence: It is not supported by empirical evidence, as it does not include the collection of empirical data through any interviews or surveys. Since it does not take into consideration the impact of legal rules and practices on individuals and society, its projection is far off from social reality. Therefore, it is devoid of any support from social facts and a practical understanding of the social problems. This research is not of much help, as social transformation cannot be achieved by following this method.
• Biassed in nature: This research mostly relies on theoretical legal sources, which can be biassed at times towards a particular interpretation of the law. This might lead to biases due to a one-sided analysis of a particular legal problem.
• It cannot be updated: Research using this method is mainly dependent on the laws that are being made and passed by Parliament. It does not take into consideration the social changes that are taking place in the day-to-day lives of the individuals living in society. So this research might be unable to provide a valuable result that will be helpful for all members of the community as a whole. 
• Difficulty in predicting the practical outcomes: This research primarily focuses on analysing and synthesising legal sources that the researchers get from past legal decisions and precedents. So, it sometimes may not be sufficient enough to predict future legal outcomes and provide support for legal decision-making in the future. 
• Limited applicability: The results of doctrinal research may be limited only to the individuals of a particular legal system and might not be applicable to other legal systems or jurisdictions.

Non-doctrinal legal research 

Non-doctrinal legal research is based on practical facts. It is fact-oriented research. It has a much wider aspect than that of doctrinal legal research. Research is mainly done through fieldwork or first-hand study by a scholar. This research is not based on secondary sources. It requires the collection of primary data, which is required for that research problem. This research focuses on the practical aspects that explore the intersection between law and society. This research is also termed as ‘socio-legal research’, as it is conducted by combining social science and legal principles to study the interlink between law and society. It involves the empirical method of collecting information and then analysing the legal practices, institutions, and policies within their social context. It studies the impact of the law and these institutions and policies on an individual’s attitude and its effect on society. 

Non-doctrinal research can also be referred to as ‘purposive’ research when discussing consequences, as it emphasises the effects of laws on people and society or the purpose of enacting a specific law. This study is mainly done from a multidisciplinary perspective. It implements various methods to conduct this research. After employing all the methods that are necessary for collecting primary legal information, a conclusion is drawn by the researchers. Some of the methods that have been used for conducting non-doctrinal research include observations, demonstrations, surveys, questionnaires, and interviews. This research gained importance when it became necessary to bring legal matters into the domain of actuality. It was believed that legal research must not only be based on theoretical studies based on written laws but also concentrate on its practical impact on society in the real world. Researchers, while selecting a topic, mainly focus on a legal factor, like law, and a non-legal factor, like social, economic, or political variables, and then examine and analyse their relationship and interconnection using data, which can either be quantitative or qualitative. The primary aim of this research is to find the workings of law in the practical world. 

Objectives of non-doctrinal legal research

The main objective of non-doctrinal legal research is to provide insights into the complex inter-relationship of law and society and to find out the legal reforms and policies that can be used to promote greater justice and equity in society. It aims to study the workings of law in a social and cultural setting. It also tried to gain knowledge about how people use, understand, and follow a particular law in real life by observing and questioning them. It shows how a law is being practically implemented in the day-to-day lives of the individuals living in society.  

Sources of non-doctrinal research

Non-doctrinal legal research provides an adequate framework for determining the impact of the law on society and institutions. Primary data and information, or first-hand research, is required for analysis in non-doctrinal legal research methods. Primary data are collected through the following methods: such as observations, interviews, questionnaires, or schedules.

Characteristics of non-doctrinal legal research

The essential characteristics of non-doctrinal legal research are as follows: 

• It is conducted to find out the effect of non-legal events on the process of law-making or legal provisions.
• It tries to determine and evaluate the extent to which the different variables influence the legal process.
• It tries to identify the effect of legal decisions on individuals in society.
• It tries to identify the societal consequences of any legislation or legal principle that can be traced.
• It determines the correlation between the law and other non-legal facts.

Purpose of non-doctrinal research

The following are the purposes of the non-doctrinal legal research:

• It alters the research tools to cope with the present legal problems or finds out various measures to resolve different social issues.
• It organises society in a systematic manner and maintains peace by tracing social evils and eradicating them.
• It finds out the consequences of the legal decisions and judgements that the courts pass and their effect on society.
• It assesses the impact of non-legal events like technological improvement, economic development, and technical changes on legal decisions.
• It also identifies and assesses the magnitude of variable factors that influence the decision-making process, like the effect of capital punishment awarded by the courts to convicts of dangerous crimes at a certain place at a given time.
• It traces the practical consequences of the legal principles for society.
• It finds out whether a law that has been passed is actually helping the people of society in the real world.

Tools used for non-doctrinal research

The various tools that are used for non-doctrinal legal research are as follows:

• Surveys
• Judgements
• Schedule
• Sampling 
• Case study
• Published sources
• Interviews

Methodology of non-doctrinal legal research

Non-doctrinal legal research focuses on field research. It is based on first-hand information. The information in this research was collected by observing and experimenting. The method includes surveys, interviews, questionnaires, and others. After the collection of data, it could be presented in the form of bar graphs, pie charts, and others. The process for doctrinal research methodology consists of various steps, which are as follows:

• Identifying the research question: It involves the identification or selection of the research problem and clarifying the scope of the research.
• Collecting data: This step involves gathering information and measuring data on variables of interest, which is necessary for research problems. It should be done in such a systematic way that it becomes easier to answer the research question, test hypotheses, and evaluate the end result. This method emphasises the collection of primary data to ensure that the information is accurate and proper. Surveys done in a locality or interviews taken from lawyers, judges, legal professionals, and other people living in society who are affected by a certain legal problem are ways of collecting data. It also includes groups with community organisations, advocacy groups, and participant observation at court hearings and other legal proceedings.
• Classifying data: After collecting data, the next step is to classify that information. It means the process of arranging data into homogeneous classes in accordance with the common features present in the data. The main objective of the classification of data is to organise information in such a manner that similarities and differences can be quickly understood. 
• Analysing information: Once the data are classified properly into groups with similar features, the researcher then analyses them. The researchers reduce the data to a story and then analyse it. This process of analysing data helps reduce the burden of large chunks of data by breaking them into smaller fragments that are easily understandable. 
• Findings: This step involves the result of the outcome that the researchers found after analysing the data that has been collected. Its goal is to use this information to address the research question that is stated at the start, even if the end result contradicts the hypothesis.
• Conclusion: This is the last step of non-doctrinal legal research. It may be concluded that a reformation is needed in the legal system for the welfare of society. It can also be used to portray that certain rights of communities have been violated. Therefore, greater attention should be given to rectifying them, as well as examining how social issues influence legal decisions.

Examples of doctrinal legal research

Some of the examples of non-doctrinal legal research are as follows:

• Conducting interviews and surveys with incarcerated individuals to study the impact of criminal justice policies on the real world, like the effect of capital punishment on the offenders.
• Investigating human rights abuses in a particular region or locality through field work involves questioning and interviewing those whose rights are being violated.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of the regulations that have been implemented for the protection of the environment and collecting information about pollution levels.

Merits of non-doctrinal legal research

Some of the advantages of non-doctrinal legal research are as follows:

• Based on field research: Unlike doctrinal legal research, this is field-based research. It is not limited to theoretical studies only. It has a much wider scope than the doctrinal legal research methodology. It takes into consideration the social, economic, and political impact of the legal problems of society. Since it is field-based research, it is not dependent on secondary sources of information.
• Determines the practical efficiency of laws: It helps in determining the practical efficiency of laws in all the non-legal sectors. It highlights the gaps between legislative goals and practicality. It shows the difference between a statutory law mentioned in the statutes and its real applicability in society. It also provides a detailed and comprehensive understanding of a particular legal problem.
• More credible: Unlike doctrinal legal research, this research is more credible as it is based on first-hand information, which is the primary source of data.
• Improves and simplifies policy making: This research shows what laws society requires, where laws are lacking, what laws are needed to be implemented, and what the reactions of individuals are to a particular law. This detailed and in-depth research helps in providing assistance and improving and simplifying policy making.
• Always updated: Research in this method not only deals with the laws that have been already passed but also with those that need to be implemented for the welfare of society. It takes into consideration the social changes that are taking place in the day-to-day lives of individuals living in society. It genuinely provides a valuable result that will be helpful for the lawmakers as well as the individuals living in society. 
• Becomes easier to predict practical outcomes: It helps in analysing the practical impacts of a law that is being implemented in society. It is not only based on past legal decisions and precedents but also on recent laws and their effect on the people of society. Therefore, it becomes easier to predict future legal outcomes and provide support for legal decision-making in the future.
• Provides expert advice: It offers expert advice and important input about various social issues to legislators, judges, and policymakers to improve the development, enforcement, and interpretation of laws.

Demerits of non-doctrinal legal research

Some of the disadvantages of non-doctrinal legal research are as follows:

• Time-consuming: Since it is field-based research work, it consumes more time than doctrinal legal research work. This research is based on real facts, and therefore, sources are not easily available. The researchers need to visit different places to collect information. After collecting the data, the researcher analyses them properly and comes to a definite conclusion. Therefore, this research cannot be done quickly.
• Expensive method of research: Unlike doctrinal legal research, this research is an expensive method of research. It is not a cost-effective research methodology, as it is not only based on the data that is easily available on online websites, libraries, and legal documents, but it also requires fieldwork. The research needs money to go to different places to collect primary evidence. He has to face a lot of hassles while doing this research.
• Needs special training for doing this research: The basic research tools of data collection cannot be employed in this research work. It needs a special kind of training to design and employ tools for collecting information. It requires special knowledge, skill, efficiency, and training from the planning stage to the execution stage. It entails greater commitments of time as well as energy to produce meaningful results.
• Needs strong background research: Before starting a non-doctrinal research work, a strong background research is necessary to get a detailed understanding of a particular matter. If a researcher is weak in doctrinal legal research, it would be difficult for him to conduct non-doctrinal legal research in a meaningful and proper way.
• Does not provide instant results: Unlike doctrinal research work, this research does not provide instant results as it takes a lot of time to understand a particular problem and its effect on people, find a solution to the problem, and state the necessary measures to solve the problem. 
• Needs financial support: This research method needs a financial backup. It is difficult for a researcher or a law student belonging to a poor family to conduct non-doctrinal legal research work. The non-availability of funds is one of the main shortcomings of this research.
• Not easily manageable: It is not easily manageable, as it is not based on established and authorised sources only. It deals with actual facts, which requires the collection of primary information by visiting different places, classifying them in different categories, and finding an appropriate solution.
• Difficulty in collecting first-hand information: Furthermore, acquiring primary data on some controversial or delicate issues may be a difficult and risky task. People have varying levels of understanding of information, and their judgement may involve a certain degree of bias and prejudice, which may also confuse the researchers at times.

Difference between doctrinal and non-doctrinal legal research 

The doctrinal legal research and the non-doctrinal legal research are closely connected with one another. The legal research falls somewhere in between these two categories. In doctrinal legal research, legal doctrines and principles dominate the research work, while in non-doctrinal legal research, this legal doctrine is just a variable of the research work. A clear difference between them is not visible. Still, some distinctions can be made between these two types of legal research. 

The difference between doctrinal and non-doctrinal legal research can be understood by reading the following points:

S. no.	Doctrinal legal research	Non-doctrinal legal research
1.	Doctrinal legal research deals with legal doctrines and principles.	Non-doctrinal legal research emphasises the practical impact of the law on society.
2.	In doctrinal research, the research is mainly dependent on traditional or conventional sources of data.	In non-doctrinal research, the research is not solely dependent on traditional sources but also includes current problems at hand.
3.	Doctrinal legal research is library-based theoretical research.	Non-doctrinal legal research is field-based socio-legal research.
4.	Doctrinal research work is based on secondary sources of data, which include textbooks, legal articles, commentaries, and others.	Non-doctrinal legal research is based on primary sources of data, which include surveys, interviews, and case studies.
5.	The origin of doctrinal legal research came from the analytical or positivist school of thought.	Non-doctrinal research comes from the realist school of thought.
6.	The scope of doctrinal legal research is narrower as compared to non-doctrinal legal research, which deals with law in isolation.	The scope of non-doctrinal legal research is much wider as compared to doctrinal legal research, as it gives a detailed and comprehensive understanding of law.
7.	Doctrinal legal research is used by the advocates for framing legal arguments and policy recommendations.	Non-doctrinal legal research is used by advocates in forming policy decisions for social and legal reforms.
8.	Special training is not required for doing doctrinal research.	Non-doctrinal research needs special training, a conceptual framework, particular skills, and knowledge of other disciplines.
9.	Doctrinal legal research is mainly concerned with legal propositions.	Non-doctrinal legal research is mostly concerned with social values and individuals.
10.	In doctrinal legal research, it is not required to collect first-hand information.	Non-doctrinal legal research requires the collection of first-hand information for case studies.
11.	A researcher doing doctrinal legal research only answers questions about one or two legal propositions.	A researcher doing non-doctrinal legal research answers more questions as it involves large areas of research work.
12.	Doctrinal legal research is less expensive and consumes less time.	Non-doctrinal legal research is a more time-consuming and expensive method.
13.	The basic sources of the doctrinal research are taken from established sources like legal norms and principles.	Non-doctrinal research incorporates interdisciplinary perspectives and empirical data to provide a significant understanding of the law’s impact on society.

Conclusion

This article gives a complete understanding and a detailed comparison of doctrinal and non-doctrinal legal research. It shows the advantages as well as the shortcomings of both the legal research. While dealing with a legal problem, a researcher needs to know the background of that problem. So it is important for him to do both the doctrinal research work and the non-doctrinal research work to understand its root cause and gain in-depth knowledge about it. On one hand, doctrinal legal research provides a foundation for the problem by analysing all the existing legal materials and guidelines, and on the other hand, non-doctrinal legal research helps to broaden the perspective by exploring its impact on the real world. Therefore, it can be seen that the combined approaches of both legal research provide a more comprehensive understanding of law and its effect on the people of society. It will be easier for the researchers to first identify the areas, do a thorough inspection of a particular legal problem, and then finally provide measures for reformation after analysing all the information. Before providing a solution, he needs to examine the legal principles and doctrines through doctrinal legal research and the practical impact on the society where the law is in operation by following non-doctrinal legal research methods.

Therefore, both types of legal research are equally important to identify the strengths and loopholes of the law. Doctrinal as well as non-doctrinal legal research are required to find solutions to the emerging problems of society within the framework of law. Both studies must be given equal importance for the development and improvement of the laws and for solving legal issues from time to time. A combination of these two categories of research will be helpful in accomplishing the goals and objectives of the researchers in a proper manner. A researcher who has thorough knowledge and is aware of the benefits and shortcomings of these two types of legal research will take the necessary measures to equip themselves by using alternative research methodologies and with the necessary skills to enable themselves to comfortably meet their research objectives. Hence, it can be concluded that both doctrinal and non-doctrinal approaches contribute distinctively to the advancement of the law and legal practices. They act as an important factor, serving as a driving force behind positive societal change and equitable governance by providing justice to the people.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are the stages involved in legal research?

The legal research involves the following stages:

• Discovering new facts: Legal research helps in finding new facts or information within the legal domain.
• Verifying old facts: It tries to verify the already established facts to ensure accuracy and relevance.
• Analysing the facts: It analyses the facts and finds out the connections and inter-relationships between the legal elements.
• Providing an explanation: After analysis, it provides a proper explanation and conclusion to a legal problem.

What are the objectives of legal research?

The main aim of legal research is to contribute to the advancement of legal understanding and different ways to overcome legal problems. Some of the objectives of legal research are as follows:

• Verifying the already existing concepts and knowledge.
• Adding more information to the already-existing knowledge.
• Exploring new arenas to gain insights and explanations.
• Testing of hypotheses about a legal proposition.
• Examining legal history and contributing to its development.
• Analysing the ambit of new legal reforms and legal institutions.
• Evaluating the merits and demerits of existing laws and suggesting improvements for their development.
• Assessing the interaction between legislative and judicial bodies and offering suggestions and recommendations for collaboration.

What is the significance of legal research?

The significance of legal research is, as follows: 

• It works as a catalyst for achieving positive social change and the pursuit of justice.
• It helps the government to enact new laws that will be beneficial for economic and social transformation.
• It helps in solving problems and challenges faced by businesses and industries.
• It helps in spreading legal awareness in society and promoting informed decision-making.

References

• https://lawcolloquy.com/publications/blog/doctrinal-and-non-doctrinal-research-/269
• https://www.legalbites.in/research-methodology/legal-research-doctrinal-and-non-doctrinal-896702
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/373632259_A_COMPARATIVE_ANALYSIS_OF_DOCTRINAL_AND_NON-DOCTRINAL_LEGAL_RESEARCH
• https://thelegalquotient.com/research-methodology/doctrinal-and-non-doctrinal-research/2847/
• https://legodesk.com/legopedia/what-is-doctrinal-and-non-doctrinal-legal-research/
• https://www.civillawjournal.com/archives/2023.v3.i1.A.38
• https://www.legalbites.in/research-methodology/aims-and-basic-tools-of-doctrinal-research-1003816
• https://www.legalbites.in/research-methodology/inter-relation-between-doctrinal-and-non-doctrinal-research-981160
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316895684_Legal_Research_of_Doctrinal_and_Non-Doctrinal