The contributors, whose work was sponsored by the National Institute of Justice in its research program to develop empirical theories about courts, include the current president and three past presidents of the Law and Society Association. Papers on the nature of courts in different time periods or settings note that modern courts have moved away from formalism and legalism and toward substantive rationality, that tribal dispute resolution and the modern criminal justice process have many similarities, and that third parties who intervene in the disputes of others can be classified according to the nature and degree of their intervention. Essays on the functions and effects of courts focus on the way in which their effects extend beyond the immediate cases with which they deal, the process by which initial claims which may result in court cases are made, and the ways in which scholars have used court caseloads as surrogates for other measures. Articles on court operations note the benefits of considering courts from the standpoint of organizational theory and the need for an interorganizational perspective for clarifying the role of the police in case outcomes. Chapter notes, an index, and a bibliography listing about 600 references are included.