Legal Emblems and the Art of Law: Obiter Depicta as the Vision of Governance

The history of the legal emblem has not been written. A seemingly fortuitous invention of the humanist lawyer Andrea Alciato in 1531, the emblem book is an extraordinary pictorial turn in the early history of publishing and in the emergence of modern law. The preponderance of juridical and normative themes, of images of rule and infraction, of obedience and error in the emblem books is critical to their purpose and interest. It is no accident that the history of this highly successful scholarly genre is dominated in authorship and content by lawyers. This book is the history of the emblem tradition as a juridical genre, along with the concept of, and training in obiter depicta, in things seen along the way to judgment. It argues that these picture books of law depict norms and abuses in classically derived forms that become the visual standards of governance. Despite the plethora of vivid figures and virtual symbols that define and transmit law, contemporary lawyers are not trained in the critical apprehension of the visible. This book is the first to reconstruct the history of the emblem tradition so as to evidence the extent to which a gallery of images of law already exists and structures how the public realm is displayed, made present, and viewed.

Author: Peter Goodrich
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 06/11/2015
Pages: 307
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.75lbs
Size: 9.90h x 6.90w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781107546103

About the Author
Goodrich, Peter: - Peter Goodrich is a Professor of Law and Director of the Program in Law and Humanities, Cardozo School of Law, New York. His previous books include Reading the Law (1986), Legal Discourse (1992), Oedipus Lex (1996) and, more recently, Laws of Love (2006) and, with Christian Delage, The Scene of the Mass Crime: History, Film and International Tribunals (2012). He is also co-author and co-producer of the award-winning feature documentary Auf Wiedersehen: Til We Meet Again (Diskin Films, 2011).