Demystifying cls: A critical legal studies family tree

From the first Conference on Critical Legal Studies in 1977, difficulties have arisen when trying to qualify what can be defined as critical legal studies. As either a jurisprudential banner or a specific reference, the term critical legal studies can lead to a variety of different meanings with little consistency. This article argues that due to the broad application of critical legal studies across different times and jurisdictions, it would benefit from a structured system of categorisation. By identifying various critical legal studies, this article briefly defines and categorises each major limb in relation to one another, in turn forming a critical legal studies family tree. Once this overview has been presented, this article focuses on the United States of America ('US')-based branch of Critical Legal Studies demonstrating how this method of categorisation provides clarity. Specifically, this demonstration addresses the roots and death of the US-based Critical Legal Studies and its effect on the continuation of critical legal studies works after this event.