Critical Legal Studies (CLS) is a critical approach to law that emerged mainly in the United States during the 1970s. It developed as a reaction against the idea that law is neutral, objective, rational, and separate from politics and society. CLS scholars argue that law is closely connected with social, economic, and political power. They examine how legal rules may support existing structures of inequality rather than simply providing justice for everyone. A central argument of CLS is that law is not always determinate. Traditional legal thought often assumes that legal rules provide clear answers to disputes. CLS scholars challenge this assumption and point out that legal principles can often be interpreted in different ways. Judges may choose between competing interpretations, and their decisions can therefore be influenced by social values, political beliefs, institutional interests, and existing power relations. Law is consequently viewed as a field of contestation rather than a completely objective