조선시대 법제사 연구의 검토와 연구방향 모색

In this paper, I reviewed studies on legal history and sought research directions. Legal history is a field where law and history overlap, and studies the meaning of norms in a social context by analyzing laws from a historical perspective. The study of legal history first began during the colonial period. The colonial authorities studied the legal history to understand the customs and laws of Joseon society, which is deeply related to Japanese colonial policy. Colonial authorities and scholars defended colonial policy by defining the Joseon era as a society without laws or observing. After liberation, a small number of researchers studied jurisprudence in poor conditions, and it is characterized by a large number of practitioners. In addition, the codes of the Joseon Dynasty were constantly translated to establish a research foundation. The establishment of the Korean Society of Legal History in 1973 aimed at establishing Korean legal system provided an opportunity for individual researchers to study while sharing a sense of problem. However, the negative perception of law in modern Korean history has influenced the study of jurists, which has led to sluggish research. As democratization was thwarted in 1980, fundamental reflections on the law caused interest in jurisprudence, and in the late 1980s, both the legal and historical circles were interested in jurisprudence due to the increase of researchers. Since then, various institutions have expanded their research foundations through English and translation of legal history materials. In addition, as the role of the laws increased after democratization in the 1990s, the historical community valued the law in the study, and thereafter, high-quality research results were made. With the introduction of ancient documents in earnest in the 1980s, research using them increased. In particular, in the field of family and civil litigation, the actual situation was carefully described. Legal research should be strengthened based on historical research. The law should be analyzed in a social context to identify social and historical implications. Criminal justice research should be activated. There is also a need for a comparative legal approach.