Law in society

We are interested in how law functions in society and in law as a social institution. We fund research that is likely to shed light on policy or practice, and practical innovation for evaluation and experiment.

You can see some examples of projects we have funded in the Our work in this area section on this page. Most of our work in law falls into seven themes:

• Administrative justice, particularly dispute resolution.
• Empirical and evaluative work on mental health and capacity law.
• The structures for human rights adjudication in Europe and elsewhere.
• Legal policy issues in family law and issues in family courts.
• Funding civil justice to serve the best interests of citizens and society.
• The outcomes and enforcement of legal practice in these areas.
• Cross national comparisons with other common-law jurisdictions.

More information about our interests in these areas and details of the application process can be found in the apply for funding section.

We don't fund projects in criminal law unless they relate to other areas of our work such as children and young people. These are considered under our Open Door programme.

We don't fund delivery of core or normal or local legal services including law centres.