The scandal of this collection lies not just in its equating law and resistance but also in its consequent revision of those critical, realist, social, and even positivist theories that would constitute law in its dependence on sovereign or society, on some surpassing power, or on the state of the judge's digestion. There is as well a further provocation offered by the collection in that the most marginalized of resistances through law are found to be the most destabilizing of standard paradigms of legal authority. Instances of such seeming marginality explored here include the resistances of colonized and indigenous peoples and resistance pursued through international law. What this 'marginal' focus also reveals is the constituent connection between modernism, imperialism and that legalism produced by the ready reduction of law in terms of sovereign, society and such. In all, the collection makes a radical contribution to social, political and postcolonial theories of law.

The Mythology of Modern Law is a radical reappraisal of the role of myth in modern society. Peter Fitzpatrick uses the example of law, as an integral category of modern social thought, to challenge the claims of modernity which deny the relevance of myth to modern society.

First published in 1998, this volume focuses critically on the European identity of the law of the European Union, of national law and the law of human rights. It is primarily concerned with the ways in which European identity is created through the rejection of a malign Other constituted in opposition to all that a virtuous Europe and its law, are supposed to be. The construction of this Other is explored in claims of the EU legal order to a unity and coherence transcending the nation-state; in the assertion of a European identity through laws effecting cultural, immigration and security policies; and in the claims to a lofty 'European-ness' made by national law and the European Convention on Human Rights. A major contribution to the understanding of European Law in the terms of the debates over modernity and postmodernity, this book will interest those involved with studies of the European Union and its law, with critical legal studies and also with socio-legal studies.

First published in 1998, this volume focuses critically on the European identity of the law of the European Union, of national law and the law of human rights. It is primarily concerned with the ways in which European identity is created through the rejection of a malign Other constituted in opposition to all that a virtuous Europe and its law, are supposed to be. The construction of this Other is explored in claims of the EU legal order to a unity and coherence transcending the nation-state; in the assertion of a European identity through laws effecting cultural, immigration and security policies; and in the claims to a lofty 'European-ness' made by national law and the European Convention on Human Rights. A major contribution to the understanding of European Law in the terms of the debates over modernity and postmodernity, this book will interest those involved with studies of the European Union and its law, with critical legal studies and also with socio-legal studies.

"The Mythology of Modern Law" is a radical reappraisal of the role of myth in modern society. Fitzpatrick uses the example of law, an integral category of modern social thought, to challenge the claims of modernity which deny the relevance of myth to the practice of law in modern society. Peter Fitzpatrick argues that law is mythic both in its origin and as a continuing social force, and depends for its identity on other mythic categories, such as the nation, the individual and the "sciences of man and society". He traces the development of the hold of mythology on Western society to the Enlightenment, despite the supposedly secular rationality of that period, and shows how it was strengthened by the experience of imperialism, when European identity was created in opposition to racially defined "others". Challenging and controversial, "The Mythology of Modern Law" questions current conceptions of legal and social theory. It revises the very foundations of jurisprudence and the sociology of law and undermines the exclusive stands taken within these disciplines.

Few thinkers can have had a more diverse or a more contested impact on theorizing law than Michel Foucault. This diversity is reflected in the wide range of Foucault's work and of the intellectual fields it has so conspicuously influenced. Such diversity informs the present collection and is signalled in the headings of its four sections: c Epistemologies: archaeology, discourse, Orientalism c Political philosophy: discipline, governmentality and the genealogy of law c Embodiment, difference, sexuality and the law c The subject of rights and ethics. Whilst the published work selected for this collection amply accommodates this diversity, it also draws together strands in Foucault's work that coalesce in seemingly conflicting theories of law. Yet the editors are also committed to showing how that very conflict goes to constitute for Foucault an integral and radical theory of law. This theory ranges not just beyond the restrained and diminished conceptions of law usually derived from Foucault, but also beyond the characteristic concern in Jurisprudence and Legal Philosophy to constitute law in its difference and separation from other socio-political forms.

Foucault's Law is the first book in almost fifteen years to address the question of Foucault's position on law. Many readings of Foucault's conception of law start from the proposition that he failed to consider the role of law in modernity, or indeed that he deliberately marginalized it. In canvassing a wealth of primary and secondary sources, Ben Golder and Peter Fitzpatrick rebut this argument. They argue that rather than marginalize law, Foucault develops a much more radical, nuanced and coherent theory of law than his critics have acknowledged. For Golder and Fitzpatrick, Foucault's law is not the contained creature of conventional accounts, but is uncontainable and illimitable. In their radical re-reading of Foucault, they show how Foucault outlines a concept of law which is not tied to any given form or subordinated to a particular source of power, but is critically oriented towards alterity, new possibilities and different ways of being. Foucault's Law is an important and original contribution to the ongoing debate on Foucault and law, engaging not only with Foucault's diverse writings on law and legal theory, but also with the extensive interpretive literature on the topic. It will thus be of interest to students and scholars working in the fields of law and social theory, legal theory and law and philosophy, as well as to students of Foucault's work generally.

Foucault's Law is the first book in almost fifteen years to address the question of Foucault's position on law. Many readings of Foucault's conception of law start from the proposition that he failed to consider the role of law in modernity, or indeed that he deliberately marginalized it. In canvassing a wealth of primary and secondary sources, Ben Golder and Peter Fitzpatrick rebut this argument. They argue that rather than marginalize law, Foucault develops a much more radical, nuanced and coherent theory of law than his critics have acknowledged. For Golder and Fitzpatrick, Foucault's law is not the contained creature of conventional accounts, but is uncontainable and illimitable. In their radical re-reading of Foucault, they show how Foucault outlines a concept of law which is not tied to any given form or subordinated to a particular source of power, but is critically oriented towards alterity, new possibilities and different ways of being. Foucault's Law is an important and original contribution to the ongoing debate on Foucault and law, engaging not only with Foucault's diverse writings on law and legal theory, but also with the extensive interpretive literature on the topic. It will thus be of interest to students and scholars working in the fields of law and social theory, legal theory and law and philosophy, as well as to students of Foucault's work generally.

Approaches to the relation of law and society have for a long time seen law as either autonomous or self-grounded in society. This book is a radically new approach that sees law as both derived from and constitutive of its surrounding social and cultural context. Drawing on the work of major theorists, this book examines the nature of law as it has descended from the Enlightenment, through to colonialism and now globalization. It is a significant contribution to legal philosophy, jurisprudence and socio-legal studies.

Approaches to the relation of law and society have for a long time seen law as either autonomous or self-grounded in society. This book is a radically new approach that sees law as both derived from and constitutive of its surrounding social and cultural context. Drawing on the work of major theorists, this book examines the nature of law as it has descended from the Enlightenment, through to colonialism and now globalization. It is a significant contribution to legal philosophy, jurisprudence and socio-legal studies.

This is a dual biography, the story of Louis Esson, the distinguished playwright who has been called 'the father of Australian drama', and his wife Hilda, who did her own pioneering in the theatre and in public health. The plays they wrote and performed reflected the drama of their lives: creative angst, intellectual conflict, untimely death, romantic entanglement, jealousy and despair. Yet Peter Fitzpatrick's book is more than a good read. As a critical appraisal of Louis Esson's plays and an exploration of the relationships the Essons had with well-known literary and theatrical figures in Australia and overseas, the book is an exploration of a developing Australian culture and identity. It is also about the dynamics of a marriage between two brilliant people, reflecting not only the patterns of gender relationships in their own time, but universal passions and strategies.

Although postcolonialism is now the main mode in which the West's relation to the "other" is critically explored, and although law has been at the forefront of that very relation, a thorough engagement between law and postcolonialism has not been pursued, in part because this would drastically disrupt not just the persistent orthodoxy of law and development but also the newly settled consensus around legal globalization and international human rights discourse. These essays break new ground in using the ideas of postcolonialism in a critical analysis of the current consensus on the international influence of Western law and on Western ideas of law in general.
In perceptions of Western law there is an enduring disparity between law's pervasive power and its fragility. Many of these essays provide graphic accounts of law's tremendous shaping power in that massive occidental movement which settled and unsettled the globe. These accounts point to the West's encompassing and transforming of other peoples and other legal systems in ways which constitute and confirm the West in its own self-creation. Other essays deal with situations "within" the West which show how its identity is created, sustained, and also challenged in a constant reference to those contrary "others" which a powerful law has shaped and transformed. This challenge comes not least from the resistance of those "others" --resistances that profoundly disrupt the West and its law, revealing them as fractured at the seemingly confident core of their own self-constitution.
Contributors include Antony Anghie, Rolando Gaete, Alan Norrie, Dianne Otto, Paul Passavant, Jeannine Perdy, Colin Perrin, Annelise Riles, Roshan de Silva, and John Strawson, in addition to the editors.
Eve Darian-Smith is Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara. Peter Fitzpatrick is Professor of Law, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London.