Introduction. The The authors of the article reveal the perspectives of sociocultural anthropology of law as a historical and legal methodology. Modern history and the history of law are becoming the most important disciplines in educational policy. At the same time, the content of the history (and the history of law) and its methodology are changing according to the processes and phenomena taking place in post-modern society. Methods. In the history (and the history of law) in the second half of the twentieth century, new methodological approaches emerged and actively developed, shaping the ontology of perception and evaluation of the past: history of mentalities and historical anthropology; history of concepts and discourse; new intellectual history; narrative history; microhistory; oral history etc. Results. The authors conclude that the appropriate understanding of the history of law today is based on new approaches emphasising legal consciousness, construction of legal reality and social aspects of the rule of law. The authors identify the following as the principles of the new, post-classical sociocultural historical anthropology of law. First, the recognition of the human being as the backbone of the legal system. Second, the emphasis on the practices used by people at all times to construct and reproduce legal reality. Third, the need to analyse the legal consciousness of the governing elite, the main reference groups, law enforcers and ordinary people (ordinary legal consciousness), the relevant era and the given society. Forth, contextuality, determining all legal innovations. Fifth, the study of the effectiveness of the legal institutions under consideration. Conclusion. Such a programme makes it possible to give the fullest possible overview of the historical past.