Law in Theory and History
New Essays on a Neglected Dialogue
Edited by Maksymilian Del Mar and Michael Lobban
This
collection of original essays brings together leading legal historians
and theorists to explore the oft-neglected but important relationship
between these two disciplines.
Legal historians have often been sceptical of theory. The methodology
which informs their own work is often said to be an empirical one, of
gathering information from the archives and presenting it in a narrative
form. The narrative produced by history is
often said to be provisional, insofar as further research in the
archives might falsify present understandings and demand revisions. On
the other side, legal theorists are often dismissive of historical
works. History itself seems to many theorists not to
offer any jurisprudential insights of use for their projects: at best,
history is a repository of data and examples, which may be drawn on by
the theorist for her own purposes. The aim of this collection is to
invite participants from both sides to ask what
lessons legal history can bring to legal theory, and what legal theory
can bring to history. What is the theorist to do with the empirical data
generated by archival research? What theories should drive the
historical enterprise, and what wider lessons can
be learned from it? This collection brings together a number of major
theorists and legal historians to debate these ideas.
Makysmilian Del Mar is Reader in Legal Theory at Queen Mary University London.
Michael Lobban is Professor of Legal History at the London School of Economics and Political
Science.
November 2016 | 9781849467995 | 368pp | Hardback | RSP:
£80
Discount Price: £64
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