Social work and the law. At first sight it seems doubtful whether there is a relation between those two: the law is rigid because of its being bound by written rules and by precedents, social work is dynamic and its solutions may differ from case to case. Nevertheless both are engaged in the study of man and society. To get a better insight in the relation between the law and social work it seems useful to confront one with the other by trying to enumerate their points of difference and their points of concurrence. The conclusions of this confrontation are: as to the law: 1) the experience of social work contains material for new legislation; 2) the experience of social work gives an insight in the way in which legal measures work out in reality; as to social work: 1) social work lays open the needs for new legislation; 2) social work shows the limits of the effectivity of the law, as, in the last instance, the integration of man in society is only possible — not by setting him strict rules — but by helping him in his concrete situation of emergency.
