Politics, Postmodernity and Critical Legal Studies: The Legality of the Contingent

Laws of Postmodernityis the first work of legal scholarship to apply postmodern jurisprudence to an analysis of a number of substantive areas of law. In analyzing the cultural significance of law, the contributors show how critical jurisprudential analysis undermines positivistic attempts to support a normative viewpoint of the legal order. In addition, they criticize contextual, sociological accounts of legal phenomena. The contributors explore blasphemy laws in the wake of the Salman Rushdie affair, and French critical legal theory-- particularly the work of Pierre Legendre--to highlight the repression of psychoanalysis within jurisprudence. Through detailed accounts,Laws of Postmodernityclearly illustrates the practical application and theoretical significance of postmodern jurisprudence.