Abstract
The purpose of this article is to present theoretical and methodological reflections on case studies on courts. As main reference, it draws on the works of Boaventura de Sousa Santos. The sociology of courts aims to analyze the courts in society, not in a separate or isolated way. For this, the case study is a privileged research method, as it articulates several techniques to compose a broad empirical picture about the performance of courts in society. Based on a case study on HC 126,292 and ADCs 43 and 44 carried out in a doctoral research, the article demonstrates the usefulness of some concepts - the pressure on decision-making, the heterogeneity of courts and their different functions in society - and the articulation of different research techniques to analyze the performance of the Brazilian Supreme Court.
Keywords:
Case study; Sociology of Law; Brazilian Supreme Court