A Phrase Which Rests Upon Confusion. Llewellyn and the puzzle of "law observance"

Abstract

The aim of the article is to analyze some theses advanced by Karl N. Llewellyn, concerning the phrase (confusing and misleading, in the author"™s view) "law observance", and related to what in current debate is called "the problem of deviancy" and, more generally, to the place of legislation in determining social change. According to Llewellyn, so-called "law observance" is not a matter of legal rules, but of social practices ("folkways"). Those practices are not "general and common" to the whole society, but, instead, different and specific according to "groups" and to diverse socio-economical contexts. So, in order to be efficient, lawmaking must concentrate on informed effort to devise appropriate means for modifying the practices and the conduct patterns of a specific social segment.