The article examines the nature and role of the sociology of law in the social system, the main causes of the emergence of law, the formation, cause-and-effect relationships in the system of social relations, the place as a special social institution. The reasons and ways of the emergence of the sociology of law as a separate branch of sociology were analyzed using the concepts of Western thinkers. Differences and similarities in the views of schools and thinkers of the sociology of law were also considered, and the emphasis was placed on the main features.