The Passions of Law

The Passions of Law is the first anthology to treat the role that emotions play, don't play, and ought to play in the practice and conception of law and justice. Lying at the intersection of law, psychology, and philosophy, this emergent field of law scholarship raises some of the most profound and interesting questions at the heart of jurisprudence. For example, what role do emotions ranging from disgust to compassion play in the decision-making processes of judges, lawyers, juries, and clients? What emotions belong in which legal contexts? Is there a hierarchy of emotions, and, if so, through what sources do we identify it? To what extent are emotions subject to change or tutelage? How can we evaluate the role of emotion in such disparate contexts as death sentencing, laws about same sex marriage, hate crime legislation, punitive damages or shaming penalties? Consisting of original essays by leading scholars of law, theology, political science, and philosophy, The Passions of Law contributes to ongoing efforts to humanize law and reveals how this previously unacknowledged aspect of decision-making exerts a much greater impact on justice and the practice of law than most tend, or like, to think. Learn more about Susan Bandes

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814713068
• ISBN13: 9780814713068
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: New York University Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 2.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Justice Is Not Blind

Any institution has its myths and legends. One of the most enduring myths in law is that good decision making is devoid of emotion. The image we have of justice is a blindfolded decision maker holding scales.Susan Bandes' book, The Passions of Law, explodes the myth that emotion has no place in law. She has collected essays from some of the most respected legal theorists, philosophers and jurists of our time: Martha Nussbaum, Austin Sarat, Martha Minow, Chesire Calhoun, John Deigh, Danielle Allen, Dan Kahan, Robert Solomon, Toni Massaro, William Ian Miller, Jeffrie Murphy, Samuel Pillsbury, and Richard Posner. Emotions are rampant in law, the essayists observe, and often they are central to good decision making. For example, we allow defenses to murder for crimes committed in the heat of passion; in capital cases some states require juries to find a murder was "heinous, atrocious or cruel" before imposing a death sentence. The theorists tackle a range of emotions - compassion, mercy, anger, vengeance, hatred, romantic love, remorse, and shame. One of the most intriguing colloquys is a debate between Yale law professor Dan Kahan and University of Chicago law, philosophy and divinity professor Martha Nussbaum on the propriety of considering disgust in law. Kahan advocates that disgust "is essential to accurate moral perception" and makes an interesting case why liberals should embrace disgust as a means of expressing social outrage: it is, for example, the idea behind enhanced penalties for hate crimes. Nussbaum counters that disgust has "been at the root of gross evils throughout history, prominently including misogyny, antisemitism, and loathing of homosexuals." Other theorists write about the invisibility of emotions, the relations between emotion and reason, and the reconstructive role of the legal system in shaping emotions.The collected essays contain discussions of the most famous and provocative trials, legal issues, and atrocities of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: Oscar Wilde's trial for obscenity, au pair Louise Woodward's murder trial, the trial of O.J. Simpson, the proposals of Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin to regulate pornography, laws against sodomy and same sex marriage, the Oklahoma City bombing and the Holocaust.The book is truly interdisciplinary, drawing on the criminal law, political philosophy, law and literature, gay legal theory, the classics, psychology, social theory, relgion, moral philosophy, and ethics. And the writing itself has sparks - it contains passion.Few collections of essays are pathbreaking. Susan Bandes has compiled such a collection.