The present volume has been planned and prepared in meetings of the Research Committee for the Sociology of Law of the International Sociological Association at the initiative of its chairman, Renato Treves, who also took upon himself editorial responsibility. The first edition of the volume appeared in Italian under the title La socioZogia deZ diritto. ProbZemi e ricerche. It was published in Milano, August I966. The present English edition has the same contents as the Italian volume with the addition of a concluding chapter by J an Glastra van Loon. This publication was undertaken with the purpose of presenting a survey of recent trends in sociology of law in various countries of the world. We hope that the growing interest in the discipline, as evidenced by the large number of publications issued since the Italian edition of this volume, * may be considered as justification for this undertaking. J. v. L. R. T. * We should like to refer to the Law and Society Review published in the United States, to the issue of Acta Sociologica, September 1966, devoted to sociology of law, and finally to the many papers submitted to and discussed at the meetings of the Research Committee for the Sociology of Law during the VIth World Congress of Sociology at Evian. INTRODUCTION by RENATO TREVES I. The sociology 0/ law in its traditional sense and in its more recent developments. Origin and obfects 0/ this work.