Narrative and Metaphor in the Law

Michael Hanne, Robert Weisberg

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9781108422796
• eBook ISBN:
  9781108397278
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Law Theory & Practice
• Index: Law

It has long been recognized that court trials in the common law system, both criminal and civil, operate around pairs of competing narratives told by opposing advocates. In recent years, however, it has increasingly been argued that narrative flows in many directions and through every form of legal theory and practice. Interest in the part played by metaphor in the law, including metaphors for the law, and for many standard concepts in legal practice, has also been strong, though research under the metaphor banner has been much more fragmentary. In this book, for the first time, a distinguished group of legal scholars, collaborating with specialists from cognitive theory, journalism, rhetoric, social psychology, criminology, and legal activism, explore how narrative and metaphor are both vital to the legal process. Together, they examine topics including concepts of law, legal persuasion, human rights law, gender in the law, innovations in legal thinking, legal activism, creative work around the law, and public debate around crime and punishment.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• List of Contributors
• Introduction Narrative and Metaphor in the Law
• Conversation I Narrative, Metaphor, and Concepts of Justice and Legal systems
• Conversation II Narrative and Metaphor in Legal Persuasion
• Conversation III Narrative and Metaphor in Judicial Opinions
• Conversation IV Narrative, Metaphor, and Gender in the Law
• Conversation V Narrative, Metaphor, and Innovations in Legal Thinking
• Conversation VI Narrative and Metaphor in Public Debate around Crime and Punishment
• Conversation VII Narrative and Metaphor in Human Rights Law
• Conversation VIII Narrative and Metaphor in Creative Work by Lawyers
• Conversation IX Narrative and Metaphor in Legal Activism
• Bibliography
• Index