Legal Cartographies

To know is to map the reality that we observe, organizing the phenomena into maps that enable us to understand the physical and symbolic universes and explain them to other people.
Social science researchers must have adequate cartographic instruments in order to carry out their activities. Every empirical researcher is faced with the need to categorize the objects observed, a challenge that makes them especially aware of the immense theoretical difficulties involved in developing appropriate classifications.
Often, the great difficulty of empirical research lies not in obtaining data, but without sufficient theoretical tools to transform information into organized maps.
What is the right map? This is never a good question, for every phenomenon can be mapped in very different ways: at different scales, focusing on different facets, adopting synchronic or diachronic approaches. Each map offers different perspectives, and it is necessary for researchers to have different categorical repertoires so that they can choose a suitable instrument to tackle their research questions.
In law, we need varied maps because there are several phenomena that make up the legal experience: decisions, arguments, actors, political consequences, etc.
This page is aimed at mapping our cartographic instruments, especially the theories that provide us with adequate classification systems so that we can organize empirical observations about law.