本文叙述美国法学者努力获得关于法律制度同社会、经济和政治大规模变革过程两者的相互关系这方面的认识的简史。我将重点讨论为确定“法律”和“发展”这类笼统的术语的涵义所做的努力,以及为创立理论结构去指导学术调查所做的努力。我还将追溯为创建“法律与发展”研究的学术领域所做的(不很成功的)尝试的历史,并简略陈述这种努力所引起的学术争论。 This article describes a brief history of American legal scholars’ efforts to gain an understanding of the interrelationship between the legal system and the process of large-scale social, economic and political change. I will focus on the efforts made to define the meaning of these general terms such as “law” and “development,” as well as the efforts to create academic structures to guide academic research. I will also trace the history of (less than successful) attempts at creating the academic fields of “law and development” and briefly state the academic controversy caused by such efforts.