Synopses & Reviews
A major statement from one of the foremost legal theorists of our day, this book offers a penetrating look into the political nature of legal, and especially judicial, decision making. It is also the first sustained attempt to integrate the American approach to law, an uneasy balance of deep commitment and intense skepticism, with the Continental tradition in social theory, philosophy, and psychology.
At the center of this work is the question of how politics affects judicial activity-and how, in turn, lawmaking by judges affects American politics. Duncan Kennedy considers opposing views about whether law is political in character and, if so, how. He puts forward an original, distinctive, and remarkably lucid theory of adjudication that includes accounts of both judicial rhetoric and the experience of judging. With an eye to the current state of theory, legal or otherwise, he also includes a provocative discussion of postmodernism.
Ultimately concerned with the practical consequences of ideas about the law, A Critique of Adjudication explores the aspects and implications of adjudication as few books have in this century. As a comprehensive and powerfully argued statement of a critical position in modern American legal thought, it will be essential to any balanced picture of the legal, political, and cultural life of our nation.
Review
Duncan Kennedy's Critique of Adjudication is a lively, accessible and, at times, deliciously irreverent book. It is also a very serious scholarly attempt to explore and theorize the adjudicative process in North America...[It] is well-structured and signposted throughout so that, although densely argued and full of (generally highly diverting) sub-themes, one can usually find one's way back to the main thread of the argument without much difficulty. Modern Law Review [UK
Review
Duncan Kennedy's Critique of Adjudicationis a lively, accessible and, at times, deliciously irreverent book. It is also a very serious scholarly attempt to explore and theorize the adjudicative process in North America...[It] is well-structured and signposted throughout so that, although densely argued and full of (generally highly diverting) sub-themes, one can usually find one's way back to the main thread of the argument without much difficulty.
Review
Duncan Kennedy is one of the most prominent and influential legal theorists of the day. This is a major effort summarizing, clarifying, and elaborating his views on the core questions of jurisprudence. Kennedy's argument is about the political nature of legal, and especially judicial, decisionmaking. It follows directly and self-consciously in a centuries-old line of debate that has been especially intense in the United States throughout much of the twentieth century. The two principal books with which to compare Kennedy's in recent decades are H.L.A. Hart's The Concept of Law and Ronald Dworkin's Law's Empire. Kennedy's book deserves to be as popular as they have been. Joanne Conaghan - Journal of Law and Society
Review
The book skillfully achieves its intended objectives and provides us with a remarkable and original approach to the problems of jurisprudence...It is impossible to summarise here the various aspects of this impressive work, much less comment on them. Pavlos Eleftheriadis
Synopsis
Harvard's Duncan Kennedy explores the aspects and implications of adjudication. At the center of the study is the question of how politics affects judicial activityand how, in turn, lawmaking by judges affects American politics. Kennedy proposes a remarkably lucid theory of adjudication that includes accounts of both judicial rhetoric and the experience of judging.
Synopsis
A major statement from one of the foremost legal theorists of our time, this book offers both a penetrating look into the political nature of legal decisionmaking, and a sustained attempt at integrating the American approach to law with the Continental tradition in social theory, philosophy, and psychology. At the center of this work is the question of how politics affects judicial activity--and how, in turn, lawmaking by judges affects American politics.
About the Author
<>Duncan Kennedyis Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence at <>Harvard Law School.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Ideological Stakes in Adjudication
Sexy Dressing: Essays on the Power and Politics of Cultural Identity