Variation in Use of Courts by Legal Status and Jurisdiction

法院经常再现现存的权力差异；在法庭上，更强大的群体很难提出法律要求。这一研究发现已在多个场所和多个法律领域得到解决。它还没有经过历史检验，我们也不知道当弱势群体的成员在地方法院起诉那些可能只是稍微更有优势的人，或者在法律地位上可能不同的人时，这意味着什么。然而，在多个司法管辖区，少数群体成员利用法院提出索赔并维护利益。最后，在不同类型法律制度的明确比较中，该框架仍未得到充分探讨。这个项目将测试在法庭上提出索赔的法律地位和管辖权的重要性，比较普通法和大陆法系制度。大陆法系司法管辖区对法律索赔的组织方式与英美法系不同。向法院提起诉讼的人因法律地位而异。这种变化将使项目能够评估法律地位在提出法律要求时的重要性，包括过程和结果。诉讼表明，法律制度并不仅仅是精英阶层的专利。将从属群体的成员重新想象为精明的诉讼人，将使我们对权力的解释复杂化，并将作为理解其他从属群体法律行为的模型。该项目将生成一个数据集，包括四个县所有现存的涉及黑人诉讼的下级法院案件（约2000起案件），保存易碎的记录，并使其更广泛地可用。保存在法院地下室和仓库的未公开的地方法庭记录很少被查阅，而且正在迅速恶化。这些记录是理解法律制度与分层社会中正式法律边缘化人群之间关系的重要资源。该项目还将有助于培养一名社会科学方面的学生。此外，该项目将改进本科生关于法律分层和法院使用的教学。

Courts often reproduce existant power differentials; it is difficult to make legal claims in court from more powerful groups. This research finding has been addressed in multiple venues and across multiple areas of law. It has not been tested historically, nor do we know enough about what that means when members of disadvantaged groups take court cases in local courts against people who may only be marginally more advantaged, or may differ in legal status. Yet in multiple jurisdictions, members of minority groups have used the courts to make claims and vindicate interests. Finally, the framework remains underexplored in explicit comparisons across types of legal regimes. This project will test the significance of both legal status and jurisdiction in making claims in the courts, comparing across common-law and civil-law regimes. Civil law jurisdictions organize legal claims making differently from common law systems. People who took cases to court varied by legal status. That variation will allow the project to evaluate the significance of legal status in making legal claims, both in process and outcomes. Litigation indicates that the legal system was not solely the province of the elite. Reimagining members of subordinated groups as shrewd litigators will complicate our interpretation of power and will serve as a model for understanding the legal action of other subordinated groups. This project will generate a dataset of all extant lower court cases involving black litigants in four counties (about 2,000 cases), preserving records that are fragile and making them more broadly available. Unpublished local court records stored in courthouse basements and storage sheds are rarely accessed and rapidly deteriorating. These records represent an important resource for understanding the relationship between legal systems and formally legally marginalized peoples in stratified societies. The project will also contribute to the training of a student in the social sciences. In addition the project will allow improved teaching of undergraduates concerning legal stratification and use of the courts.