International Institute for the Sociology of Law

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The International Institute for the Sociology of Law (IISL) in Oñati is the only international institution dealing with the sociology of law or socio-legal studies or law and society in the widest sense.

The IISL is a joint venture of the Research Committee on Sociology of Law (also known as RC12 of the International Sociological Association) and the government of the Basque autonomous region in Spain. It is situated (since 1989) in the Antigua Universidad del Pais Vasco (Old University of the Basque Country) in Oñati. The founding director of the IISL, André-Jean Arnaud, had bronce plaques put on the walls of the renaissance building with the names of some of the forefathers of modern sociology of law: Montesquieu, Henry James Sumner Maine, Francisco Giner de los Ríos, Henri Lévy-Bruhl, Achille Loria, Leon Petrażycki, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Eugen Ehrlich, Karl Renner, Karl N. Llewellyn, Theodor Geiger, Georges Gurvitch, Nicholas S. Timasheff.

The IISL has four "official languages": English, French, Spanish and Basque. It houses a famous library/documentation covering socio-legal literature in all big and many small languages. The Institute organises socio-legal workshops and an international Master's Program in the Sociology of Law. Publications from the workshops are regularly produced in both an English- and Spanish language series.

It recruits students from across the world for its Masters programme. The Masters programme is designed with a 6 month course work and 6 months of tesina. During the six months of course work students get exposed to wide variety of areas of discussion. The official website provides you more details on the information of how the courses in the past had been designed. During the tesina period (thesis) you are expected to write small thesis of students choice. The degree currently has recognition of the state. Two students are awarded with scholarships every year.

[edit] Literature

Pierre Guibentif (ed.) Oñati IISL-IISJ. 1989-2000: Introduction to the Institute and Report about its Activities. Oñati: IISL 2000.
Oñati International Series in the sociology of Law (Richard Hart Publishers, Oxford)
Collección Oñati: Derecho y Sociedad (Dykinson: Madrid)