법학 연구의 역사 —학문의 전통과 방법을 중심으로 하여—

This article begins with the awareness that our Korean legal science (Rechtswissenschaft) is currently in crisis. This article handles briefly a history of Korean legal studies in the context of responding to its crisis. This article assumes the following: First, legal studies are one of sciences. Second, we have a tradition of legal studies. Third, there was a time when our studies as legal science were growing actively. Based on this premise, this article is trying to provide an overview of the history of our legal studies. In particular, the discussion of this article focuses on the traditions and methods of legal studies. The author is using namely the four-stages model. It means that the history of Korean legal studies has unfolded in four stages: ‘Subordination → independence → development → crisis.’ Next, in order to find the traditions and methods of our legal studies, the author selects and examines some of the legal studies of the first generation of Korean legal scholars. This article confirms that the first generation of legal scholars tried to establish legal studies as one of sciences even in difficult circumstances. Their legal studies used and developed persuasive methods even from the present point of view. Some of them were passed down as academic traditions but there are also some parts that were not. However, this article argues that by looking at the concerns and efforts of the first generation of legal scholars, we can obtain a rough outline of what legal studies as legal science should be. This article emphasizes that this aspect needs to be highlighted in an era of the crisis of legal studies.