What makes a legal problem? Dispute characteristics and the construction of legality

Abstract

Individuals rarely turn to law when faced with civil legal problems and often do not perceive the problems that they experience as legal matters. Though not all justiciable problems require recourse to lawyers or legal institutions, the dynamics of legal characterization and responsive behaviour are important for understanding dispute processing and developing targeted policy interventions. Extant survey research documents the importance of problem type in shaping perceptions of legality and responsive action but has been limited in its ability to interrogate problem-level predictors. Using an experimental approach, this study extends existing research by investigating the effect of the amount at stake, the position within the dispute, and the allocation of fault on the likelihood that respondents identify problems as legal matters and would seek legal assistance. The findings confirm that characterization is not a wholly subjective phenomenon and that certain contextual features amplify the likelihood of a problem being viewed as legal.