‘Legal Critique’: Elements for a Genealogy

While teachers and students of law tend to take for granted that critical legal campaigning originates in the late 20th century, many historians suggest that the summons of law and its state of accusation before the tribunal of critique dates back to the days of the Enlightenment. I am arguing, in contrast, that, in the West, the history of legal critique is by no means shorter than the history of law; that Western legal evolution embraces and supposes anti-legalism or ‘antinomianism’ since the days of early Christianity and throughout; that, conversely, an adequate assessment of Christianity must stress its character as an anti-institutional, anti-legal, and anti-religious campaign; that the standard view of Humanism, Enlightenment, and Modernity, which tends to foreground their antagonism to Christian institutions and to deny their nature as instantiations of the Christian campaign, misses the crucial point both about them and about Christianity (and, implicitly at least, about geopolitics); that key concepts of political modernity thrust their roots, not only and not most importantly into Political Theology, but rather into Saint Paul’s legal ‘new deal’; that, far from giving rise, as intended, to a deactivation of law, Paul’s action has resulted, instead, in the interlinking build-up of a militant denial of law on the one hand, and an emerging intensification of law on the other hand. Let the reader be warned that the article strings together a bouquet of snap-shots from a work in progress.     

Foucault’s Critique: A Topology of Thought

In order to elucidate some of the ways in which critique and subjectivity become inextricably linked in Foucault’s oeuvre, the paper proceeds first by briefly discussing the concept of critique as limit-attitude as it appears in some of Foucault’s methodological writings. Subsequently, the main tenets of Judith Butler’s commentary on the essay ‘What is Critique?’ will be summarized, concentrating on the image of the virtuous, self-making subject that the author’s interpretation brings out of Foucault’s original text. The second part of the paper aims to develop an alternative reading of Foucault’s notion of critique by looking at the ways in which the notion of space operates as an underlying perspective in his archaeological analysis. Ultimately, it will be shown how the spatial implications of Foucault’s early works and a more passive form of subjectivity as unfolding from his discussion of the ‘author function’ and his own methodological reflections coalesce into a form of practical critique, which, as wished by the author, may take ‘the form of a possible transgression’ (Foucault 1984a, p. 45).     

The Concept of “Political Prisoner”: A Critique

The term “political prisoner” plays an important role in contemporary affairs. But how coherent is the concept behind the term, and is use of this term essentially unobjectionable? As it turns out, the most influential contemporary definitions of the concept of “political prisoner” are fundamentally flawed, and the use of the term itself may do more harm than good. One basic problem with the concept of “political prisoner” concerns the most current definitional criteria, which all prove either arbitrarily narrow or excessively broad. Even more worrisome than these definitional issues, the use of the concept contributes nothing to the moral assessment of detentions and punishment, and deflects attention from other considerations that are more relevant in evaluating their legitimacy. There is, finally, a third fundamental problem with the concept: it serves to arbitrarily privilege one class of prisoners vis-à-vis all the others.     

Débat sur la Parité: Introduction Controversy about Parity: Introduction

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique -     

Débat sur la Parité: Contribution Initiale Parity Controversy: Initial Contribution

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique -     

Les abréviations juridiques: méthode de recherche jurilinguistique

Résumé  Afin de mettre en exergue la spécificité de la jurilinguistique, le présent article examine une des particularités du langage du droit, l’utilisation des abréviations dans les textes juridiques, sur laquelle il est, je pense, essentiel de faire des recherches comparatives. Dans ce contexte, ma tache est d’expliciter la nécessité d’une étude comparative en jurilinguistique en prenant pour appui des travaux que notre groupe de recherche a réalisés sur les abréviations juridiques finlandaises. (Ce groupe de recherche comprenait Anne Jussila, licenciée ès-lettres, Outi Kaltio, licenciée ès-lettres, et l’auteur de ces pages.)

The Critical Instance ‘After’ The Critique of the Subject

The central argument of this piece involves the idea that insofar as␣critique, with its two basic tropes of question and judgment, has been central to the ȁ8classical’ configuration of subjectivity, the critical instance ȁ8after’ the critique of the subject is to be found re-situated on a different philosophical terrain where the question of the question is re-thought and the logic of judgment displaced by an ethic of encounter. It is on this terrain that we can then start sketching the emergence of a different set of critical instances: critical ontologies, critical analytics and critical erotics.     

Le Raisonnement Juridique: Une Pratique Spécifique?

Selon une thèse largement partagée, le droit et une pratique sociale et les contributions des participants sont complémentaires les unes des autres. Dans ces conditions, le raisonnement juridique consiste d’abord en une interprétation de ces pratiques et présuppose un point de vue interne de la part de celui qui souhaite en rendre compte. Le raisonnement juridique est ainsi conçu comme une argumentation pratique, subordonnée aux exigences de la rationalité car ceux qui participent à la pratique juridique sont contraints de donner des raisons à leur action et ces raisons tissent un réseau de contraintes. Très séduisante, cette thèse qui doit beaucoup à la critique des réalistes par Hart, n’en demeure pas moins justiciable de quelque critique.     

‘Ménages irréguliers’: interracial liaisons in colonial Indochina, 1905–1938

This article explores the history of relationships between Vietnamese women and French men in colonial Indochina as well as the multiplicity of perspectives on these unions. Relationships between Vietnamese women and French men were shaped by a lack of social integration and the skewed sex ratio among the French populations in the region. For French colonizers, these unions complicated the legal and social criteria for ‘being French’ in the colony and were perceived as both a practical necessity and a political threat. Vietnamese discourse on interracial unions demonstrated a preoccupation with changing sexual norms as well as preservation of cultural traditions. By engaging with both Vietnamese and French sources, the article moves away from mainstream colonial Eurocentric parlance that typically cast Vietnamese women as dominated and powerless, and instead highlights the women’s various degrees of agency as well as different motivations and practices in interracial unions.     

A Commentary on the MND Model and the Boone Critique: “Saying It Doesn’t Make It So”

We appreciate Boone’s (2011, this issue) critique of Rogers, Bender, and Johnson’s (2011, this issue) analysis of the Malingered Neurocognitive Dysfunction (MND) criteria. She raised good points and appeared in general agreement regarding several crucial limitations of the MND model. However, Boone remained mostly silent on several issues including the compelling results from our methodological review of MND studies and Criteria A through D. When provided, her comments tended to be very selective and were often presented with little or no empirical support. This contrasting pattern of strong statements and weak evidence appears to unintentionally parallel the MND model, which was documented in our original analysis. As a result of her criticism, however, we clarified our point regarding methodological limitations in establishing levels of TBI and its potential relevance to determinations of feigned cognitive impairment. We hope that these spirited discussions will stimulate a much-needed review and a fundamental revamping, if not replacement, of the MND model.     

More forensic romances: De Clérambault's syndrome in men

De Clérambault's syndrome (erotomania) has invariably been regarded as a female disorder (with male victims); however, a number of recent reports describe male patients with the disorder, especially in violence-prone male offender populations. Seven cases are presented of violence-prone men suffering from the disorder, including Hinckley and Poddar. The syndrome is discussed from a nosological point of view and in terms of its impact on competency to stand trial. Psychiatrists should be aware that the syndrome is not a rarity among men, as previously thought, and that proper diagnosis and management are essential in view of the clinical course of the disorder and the potential for violence when the patient's "love" is persistently unrequited by the delusional love object.     

Frontière Dépassée,Frontière Recomposée

La notion de frontière est au c?ur d’une ambivalence entre son caractère délimitateur, son rôle de contour spatial et la contestation des séparations qu’elle opère. La frontière juridico-politique, limite de systèmes, est soumise à de profonds bouleversements. Dès lors, elle fait l’objet d’une nouvelle acception et devient le lieu d’une coopération entre des acteurs soucieux d’un développement harmonieux et d’un retour à la normalité au bénéfice d’une nouvelle dimension de l’espace: le transfrontalier. Comment le droit a t-il accueilli ces évolutions? Quelle définition s’impose au juriste devant la notion de frontière?     

Queer Criminology,Critique, and the “Art of Not Being Governed”

This article builds on previous work that argues that a useful path for a “queer/ed criminology” to follow is one that takes “queer” to denote a position. It suggests that one way of developing such an approach is to adopt a particular understanding of critique—specifically one that draws from Michel Foucault’s view of critique as “the art of not being governed.” It then charts some of the possible directions for such a “queer/ed criminology.” While such an approach to critique has previously been discussed within critical criminologies, this article suggests that it is useful for queer criminologists to explore the opportunities that it affords, particularly in order to better appreciate how “queer/ed criminology” might connect to, draw from, or push against other currents among critical criminologies, and help to delineate the unique contribution that this kind of “queer/ed criminology” might make.