
After Law
Laurent de Sutter(Author)
Polity Press
1st Edition
Published on 8. October 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-1-5095-4237-6 (ISBN)
Description
Law is the most sacred fetish of our time. From radicals to conservatives, there is no militant, activist or thinker who would consider doing without it. But the history of our fascination with law is long and complex, and reaches deeper into our culture than we might think.
In After Law, Laurent de Sutter takes us on a journey to uncover the sources of our fascination with law. He shows that at a certain moment in our history a choice was made to treat law as a decisive feature of civilization, but this choice was neither obvious nor necessary. Other political, social, religious or cultural possibilities could have been chosen instead of adopting a theoretical tool aimed at governing our behaviour and even our lives by means of abstract principles. De Sutter takes us through a variety of normative landscapes that guide, and have guided, the lives of millions in a way that has nothing to do with law. From Ancient Egypt to Mesopotamia, from Medieval Japan to India and China, from Islam to Judaism, other cultures have devised sophisticated tools to help people live together - without having to deal with norms, rules and principles. This is a lesson worth reflecting on, especially at a time when the rule of law and the functioning of justice are increasingly showing their sinister side - and their impotence. Is there life beyond law?
Reviews / Votes
"There is little in need of more urgent scrutiny than the sclerotic legal systems of Western law. Tersely, rudely, brilliantly, After Law dares to imagine what has not yet been conceived, a post juridical era of collapsing, chaotic, sensuous, transhuman, ethical community."Peter Goodrich, Professor of Law, Cardozo School of Law, New York
"Laurent de Sutter's amazingly erudite tour of the major legal traditions explores the concepts, institutions and strategies of the world's nomophilia the age-old love of law. It offers an invaluable course in the comparative genealogy and philosophy of law and its encyclopaedia of legal terms will teach, entertain and direct future research. After Law is necessary reading for every lawyer, academic and researcher looking for links, comparisons and contrasts in the legal foundations of the world and the indispensable companion for every course in jurisprudence, legal history and comparative law."
Costas Douzinas, Professor of Law, Birkbeck, University of London
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 212 mm
Width: 135 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
300 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5095-4237-6 (9781509542376)
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Persons
Laurent de Sutter is Professor of Legal Theory at Vrije Universiteit Brussel.


