Samenvatting

There is an ongoing debate about the importance and need for a more scientific and methodological approach of legal research. In this article, we contribute to this discussion by defining several role models and by testing to what extent these role models are used in legal research. After analyzing more than hundred Dutch legal dissertations, the study finds that legal scholars often take the perspective of the legislator who tries to find and define optimal law. The study also finds that classical sources, such as legislation and court decisions, are predominantly used within the perspective of the legislator. The advantages and pitfalls of the role model of the legislator are discussed. The findings are relevant for legal theory, more specifically for the debate on whether legal scholars take an internal or external perspective on the law. Additionally, the article provides information on what legal researchers do and therefore contributes to understanding the characteristics, possibilities, and constraints of legal research.