The course first will consider the foundations of the discipline of the sociology of law through the work of Weber and Durkheim. We go on to two contrasting legal theorists who try to define the meaning of law, juxtaposing sociological theories of law to a renovated legal positivism. (Ehrlich and Kelsen) We approach contemporary legal sociology from two sides: efforts at positive theory construction (Luhmann and Habermas) as well versions of deconstruction (Foucault, Bourdieu, Derrida and Agamben). We end with a section on constitutions and constitution making.