O SCURTĂ PRIVIRE ASUPRA METODEI DE STUDIU ŞTIINŢIFIC AL DREPTULUI
A BRIEF LOOK AT THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF STUDYING LAW

Summary/Abstract: The Romanian Code of Doctoral Studies defines the doctoral thesis as “the original scientific paper elaborated by a doctoral student within the doctoral studies, legal condition for obtaining the doctoral degree”. According to the Methodology for Evaluating Doctoral Theses of the Romanian National Council for Attestation of University Titles, Diplomas and Certificates, where the specialized committee has not yet adopted specific standards for doctoral theses in the respective field, the evaluators analyse the doctoral thesis from several perspectives, including the extent to which the candidate has made appropriate use of research methods and methodologies. Also, the latest known Criteria for the Validation of Doctoral Theses adopted by the Committee on Legal Sciences provide that the paper includes an introductory chapter that specifies, inter alia, the research methodology and the latter must be appropriate to the treatment of the topic, explained at the beginning of the research and applied throughout the paper. Since the doctoral thesis is a scientific paper, leaving aside the interdisciplinary aspects, which scientific research methods and methodologies are expected to be used in researching law? In order to find an answer we leaned on a work from the interwar period that recently saw the light of print again: “The Technical-Legal Method in the Science of Criminal Law” by Vintilă Dongoroz, which, leaving aside its criminal coloration, argues that the most appropriate method in the research of positive law comprises three parts (component studies) in the following order: the exegetic, the dogmatic and the critical study of the law. In summa, this short study aims at presenting an overview of this technical-legal method precisely because, in the light of Romanian legislation, the PhD candidates must show appropriate use of the research methods and the research methodology must be applied throughout the doctoral thesis in order to meet the criteria for obtaining the doctoral degree.

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