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Full-Text Articles in Law
Is The Law Hopeful?, Annelise Riles
Is The Law Hopeful?, Annelise Riles
Annelise Riles
This essay asks what legal studies can contribute to the now vigorous debates in economics, sociology, psychology, philosophy, literary studies and anthropology about the nature and sources of hope in personal and social life. What does the law contribute to hope? Is there anything hopeful about law? Rather than focus on the ends of law (social justice, economic efficiency, etc.) this essay focuses instead on the means (or techniques of the law). Through a critical engagement with the work of Hans Vaihinger, Morris Cohen and Pierre Schlag on legal fictions and legal technicalities, the essay argues that what is “hopeful” …
Foreword: Transdisciplinary Conflicts Of Law, Ralf Michaels, Karen Knop, Annelise Riles
Foreword: Transdisciplinary Conflicts Of Law, Ralf Michaels, Karen Knop, Annelise Riles
Annelise Riles
This introduction to our co-edited special issue of Law and Contemporary Problems addresses how interdisciplinary studies might contribute to the revitalization of the field of Conflict of Laws. The introduction surveys existing approaches to interdisciplinarity in conflict of laws - drawn primarily from economics, political science, anthropology and sociology. It argues that most of these interdisciplinary efforts have remained internal to the law, relating conflicts to other legal spheres and issue areas. It summarizes some of the contributions of these projects but also outlines the ways they fall short of the full promise of interdisciplinary work in Conflicts scholarship, and …
The Symbols Of Governance: Thurman Arnold And Post-Realist Legal Theory, Mark Fenster
The Symbols Of Governance: Thurman Arnold And Post-Realist Legal Theory, Mark Fenster
Mark Fenster
This article is an effort to provide both the intellectual context of Thurman Arnold's work and, through his work, a better sense of where and how the study of law turned after realism. The article is in five parts. Part I describes Arnold's relationship with legal realism, looking at the earliest part of his academic career when, as a mainstream realist, he performed empirical studies of local and state court systems. Part II is Arnold's proposed field of "Political Dynamics," an interdisciplinary approach to the symbols of law, politics, and economics. Part III considers Arnold's authorial voice in Symbols and …
Misappropriation Of Shuar Traditional Knowledge (Tk) And Trade Secrets: A Case Study On Biopiracy In The Amazon, Winston P. Nagan, Eduardo J. Mordujovich, Judit K. Otvos, Jason Taylor
Misappropriation Of Shuar Traditional Knowledge (Tk) And Trade Secrets: A Case Study On Biopiracy In The Amazon, Winston P. Nagan, Eduardo J. Mordujovich, Judit K. Otvos, Jason Taylor
Winston P Nagan
Where the murkiness of biopiracy as a general matter leaves little room for legal theory to anchor, the relative clarity of specific instances of biopiracy may provide sufficient factual information from which to develop appropriate legal theories. In particular, the way biopiracy has been used to misappropriate the traditional knowledge (TK) of the Shuar Nation of Ecuador suggests that there may be legal theories for which the process of misappropriation may give rise to liability under international law as well as under developments in the domestic laws of the United States and Ecuador. The possible efficacy and legal coherence of …
The Conceits Of Our Legal Imagination: Legal Fictions And The Concept Of Deemed Authorship, Alina Ng
The Conceits Of Our Legal Imagination: Legal Fictions And The Concept Of Deemed Authorship, Alina Ng
Alina Ng
Describing legal fictions as embedded nuggets of information about social reality in the law is not as contradictory as it may sound. Legal fictions reveal important aspects of human society that may not be understood but for the curious metaphors that these fictions portray. The use of legal fictions may, however, obscure important information or fundamental questions about law and its society as it commits legal institutions to set outcomes. These fictions become institutionalized without clear understanding of their function. When that happens, fallacious assumptions about human behavior and social relationships transform into binding principles that set the course for …
»A Kőkorszak Metafizikája« És A »Szép Új Világ«: Herbert Hart A Jog Emberképéről [‘The Metaphysics Of The Stone Age’ And The ‘Brave New World’: Hart On The Law’S View Of Man], Péter Cserne
Péter Cserne
This paper analyses H.L.A. Hart’s views on the epistemic character of the law’s assumptions about human behaviour, as articulated in Causation in the Law and Punishment and Responsibility. Hart suggests that the assumptions behind legal doctrines typically combine common sense factual beliefs, moral intuitions, and philosophical theories of earlier ages with sound moral principles, and empirical knowledge. An important task of legal theory is to provide a ‘rational and critical foundation’ for these doctrines. This does not only imply conceptual clarification in light of an epistemic ideal of objectivity but also involves legal theorists in ‘enlightenment’ about empirical facts, ‘demystification’ …