Ethics in Research by Lorella Congiunti

nor a pure prescription, but it consists of these latter two intertwining elements mediated by an evaluation activity. Legal scholars do not prescribe any rule and their opinion does not have any coercion. On the contrary, the only constraint generated by the outcome of their work can derive from the persuasive force of their speech, if there is a persuasive force. The outcome of legal research very often—within civil law systems and in common law ones lately [ 13 ] (p. 42)—prepares the judicial decisions, stimulates the work of the legislator, and may have a leading role in the training of future jurists. This dialectical relationship between the researcher and the object of the research typically characterizes legal science. Finally, there is a second aspect that distinguishes legal research from other social sciences both as to its object and method. Indeed, investigating Law presents necessary a transnational dimension that should always preclude legal researchers from overlooking foreign systems in studying a specific topic. A pure legal domestic investigation would not only reduce the worthiness of the project, but it would even jeopardize the integrity of the scientific activity itself, as it is looked at its ethical side also, which is fundamental in any research. The researchers, indeed, should see their national law as a mere starting point; legal scholars, in other words, should look outside their juridical systems to know Law in depth. Indeed, to fully accomplish