Living Signs of Law – serie

This book explores the unique nature of the fluidity of law in the continual evolution of society and the development of laws to respond to new life situations. While the fluidity of law frequently fluctuates from one moment to the next, this flexibility enables law to meet and adapt to new standards. Rather, law as a living entity is under constant strain and needs to be firmly grounded in the past as it subsequently adjusts or even swings in new directions to accommodate new possibilities. Its theoretical perspectives, including philosophical and sociological theories, are necessarily situated in relation to this tension-filled system. This book first explores the socio-cultural and legal portrayals of the fluidity of law, then provides legal case studies of this tension-filled system on localized as well as comparative scales. More generally, the book explores legal, social, and cultural avenues to help this system claims its unique identity; i.e., the fluidity of law.

This book explores how judiciaries in different parts of the world are responding to climate change and how climate change intersects with the law. It offers feminist approaches to the judicial responses to climate change in the Global South, providing both jurisdictional and thematic reviews. Climate change is one of the most pressing global issues facing humankind, and is currently reshaping geopolitics, governance, law, and international relations around the world.The book’s originality lies in its endeavour to highlight judicial perspectives on climate change from prominent female researchers who have been working on this subject professionally and/or academically, bringing both regional and international views to the subject. The main objective is to give a new meaning to the study of climate change by bringing together the most recent aspects, including climate litigation, eco-constitutionalism and the environmental rule of law, climate and environmental justice, climate geopolitics and climate governance.The book will be of interest to students, academics, and scholars of climate law and environmental law around the world.

This book explores how judiciaries in different parts of the world are responding to climate change and how climate change intersects with the law. It offers feminist approaches to the judicial responses to climate change in the Global South, providing both jurisdictional and thematic reviews. Climate change is one of the most pressing global issues facing humankind, and is currently reshaping geopolitics, governance, law, and international relations around the world.The book’s originality lies in its endeavour to highlight judicial perspectives on climate change from prominent female researchers who have been working on this subject professionally and/or academically, bringing both regional and international views to the subject. The main objective is to give a new meaning to the study of climate change by bringing together the most recent aspects, including climate litigation, eco-constitutionalism and the environmental rule of law, climate and environmental justice, climate geopolitics and climate governance.The book will be of interest to students, academics, and scholars of climate law and environmental law around the world.

This book presents a pluri-dimensional approach to today's most relevant perspectives on the boundaries of Law, both in terms of its creation and performance, in order to discuss its current meaning and role as a normative order. To do so, it presents a broad range of standpoints concerning philosophical, theoretical, juridical-political, dogmatic and methodological issues, and proposes new bases for the construction and effectiveness of legal statements and decisions, from those issued by juridical-political organisations to those taken by judges. In addition, it sheds new light on discussions concerning the juridical and political role of Law in connection with public policy and democracy-related issues, especially contemporary debates between International Law and Human Rights Law, on the one hand, and between Public Law and Private Law, on the other.

This book presents a pluri-dimensional approach to today's most relevant perspectives on the boundaries of Law, both in terms of its creation and performance, in order to discuss its current meaning and role as a normative order. To do so, it presents a broad range of standpoints concerning philosophical, theoretical, juridical-political, dogmatic and methodological issues, and proposes new bases for the construction and effectiveness of legal statements and decisions, from those issued by juridical-political organisations to those taken by judges. In addition, it sheds new light on discussions concerning the juridical and political role of Law in connection with public policy and democracy-related issues, especially contemporary debates between International Law and Human Rights Law, on the one hand, and between Public Law and Private Law, on the other.

Law can be seen as a motley of different languages deployed in the legal domain. The authors of the chapters share interest in what determines the scope of the vocabulary of these languages as well as in the way they are used. Thus, both the linguistic and pragmatic turns occurring in the philosophy of language are explored as exercising not mere ripple effects on legal scholarship, but rather as having a huge impact on jurisprudence.The chapters in this volume tackle three broad problem areas to offer a coherent picture of languages of the law. The first section is devoted to legal language at large, including reflections on its nature and some distinct functions it performs in the legal domain. The second section of the book focuses on the distinctly legal and pragmatic dimensions of some fragments of vocabulary, used either in legal texts or in legal scholarship. In the third section of the volume, authors research specific questions regarding legal language and legal reasoning.

Law can be seen as a motley of different languages deployed in the legal domain. The authors of the chapters share interest in what determines the scope of the vocabulary of these languages as well as in the way they are used. Thus, both the linguistic and pragmatic turns occurring in the philosophy of language are explored as exercising not mere ripple effects on legal scholarship, but rather as having a huge impact on jurisprudence.The chapters in this volume tackle three broad problem areas to offer a coherent picture of languages of the law. The first section is devoted to legal language at large, including reflections on its nature and some distinct functions it performs in the legal domain. The second section of the book focuses on the distinctly legal and pragmatic dimensions of some fragments of vocabulary, used either in legal texts or in legal scholarship. In the third section of the volume, authors research specific questions regarding legal language and legal reasoning.

This book argues that omitting the component of narrative creates an irresolvable antinomy concerning the identity of the subject: between the subject and identical copies of itself in different situations, or between it and the identical subject as a substantial illusion, the elimination of which reveals the pure multitude of desires, emotions, and perceptions.The starting point of the considerations presented here is the conviction that knowledge of one’s own desires and preferred values is obtained by articulating a narrative identity through social interactions and mutually determined moral horizons that presuppose shared meanings and the possibility of consensus. The book emphasizes the significance of personal narration and identity formation, but also points out that collective narrative, which is culturally and traditionally rooted, is also one’s own narrative. It focuses on the issue of identity, which is discussed today in numerous contexts, and the understanding of which, according to the author, has important consequences, including: for the legal aspects of our lives, as it concerns, for example, the rights of LGBTQ+ people or entities marginalized or excluded for various reasons. The titular narrative identity of an authentic legal entity is related to opening ourselves to others, but also to ourselves. The interdisciplinary research perspective adopted in the book combines literary aspects, philosophical, sociological and theoretical-legal considerations with an analysis of the jurisprudence of European tribunals.

This book argues that omitting the component of narrative creates an irresolvable antinomy concerning the identity of the subject: between the subject and identical copies of itself in different situations, or between it and the identical subject as a substantial illusion, the elimination of which reveals the pure multitude of desires, emotions, and perceptions.The starting point of the considerations presented here is the conviction that knowledge of one’s own desires and preferred values is obtained by articulating a narrative identity through social interactions and mutually determined moral horizons that presuppose shared meanings and the possibility of consensus. The book emphasizes the significance of personal narration and identity formation, but also points out that collective narrative, which is culturally and traditionally rooted, is also one’s own narrative. It focuses on the issue of identity, which is discussed today in numerous contexts, and the understanding of which, according to the author, has important consequences, including: for the legal aspects of our lives, as it concerns, for example, the rights of LGBTQ+ people or entities marginalized or excluded for various reasons. The titular narrative identity of an authentic legal entity is related to opening ourselves to others, but also to ourselves. The interdisciplinary research perspective adopted in the book combines literary aspects, philosophical, sociological and theoretical-legal considerations with an analysis of the jurisprudence of European tribunals.

The Communicational Theory of Law (CTL) is a successful synthesis of the hermeneutic and analytical postulates, proceeding under the assumption that Law is the heritage of jurists and can be enriched by a rational and systematic reconstruction of the legal order. CTL offers an original perspective on the classic tension between normativity and institutionality, between Legal Theory and Legal Sociology, helping readers rediscover the value of Theory of Law in terms of explaining and advancing a range of legal functions.It wouldn’t be saying too much to claim that through CTL, the contributions of the European philosophy of law from the 19th and 20th centuries (jurisprudence of concepts, legal sociology, legal positivism, institutionalism, etc.) can be reclaimed and now coordinated from a communicational and philosophy of language perspective, offering us a complete and useful Theory of Law. CTL does not avoid the problem of the idea of justice; rather, it confronts it by distinguishing between the Theory of Justice and ambital justice. As such, readers are equipped to verify the originality of the Theory of Legal Decision in the CTL framework and, thus, will find new tools for critically assessing the performance of courts and public authorities.This book details the epistemological presuppositions on which CTL is built, but also offers new lines of critical development, which reflect CTL’s theoretical and philosophical potential. In the studies presented here, readers will find original answers to classic problems of the Theory of Law, together with examples of CTL’s practical application to the great challenges of our time, such as interculturalism, legal AI, populist demagogy, the transparency of public powers, etc. – all without forgetting the challenges of the future of Law.

The Communicational Theory of Law (CTL) is a successful synthesis of the hermeneutic and analytical postulates, proceeding under the assumption that Law is the heritage of jurists and can be enriched by a rational and systematic reconstruction of the legal order. CTL offers an original perspective on the classic tension between normativity and institutionality, between Legal Theory and Legal Sociology, helping readers rediscover the value of Theory of Law in terms of explaining and advancing a range of legal functions.It wouldn’t be saying too much to claim that through CTL, the contributions of the European philosophy of law from the 19th and 20th centuries (jurisprudence of concepts, legal sociology, legal positivism, institutionalism, etc.) can be reclaimed and now coordinated from a communicational and philosophy of language perspective, offering us a complete and useful Theory of Law. CTL does not avoid the problem of the idea of justice; rather, it confronts it by distinguishing between the Theory of Justice and ambital justice. As such, readers are equipped to verify the originality of the Theory of Legal Decision in the CTL framework and, thus, will find new tools for critically assessing the performance of courts and public authorities.This book details the epistemological presuppositions on which CTL is built, but also offers new lines of critical development, which reflect CTL’s theoretical and philosophical potential. In the studies presented here, readers will find original answers to classic problems of the Theory of Law, together with examples of CTL’s practical application to the great challenges of our time, such as interculturalism, legal AI, populist demagogy, the transparency of public powers, etc. – all without forgetting the challenges of the future of Law.

This book investigates Ludwik Fleck’s thought as a radical critique of institutionalized knowledge production, clarifying and extending his concepts to form an updated methodology. It reconstructs the cultural and institutional factors that, as Fleck insisted, are interactional – i.e., shaped by entangled processes rather than a single determinant. Offering an alternative to dominant models of cultural change, it demonstrates how new thought styles emerge, circulate, and face resistance in moments of revolutionary transformation.The central question addressed is how certain communities come to think in new ways – both in response to and contributing to cultural transformations. Such changes are fiercely contested – through censorship, exclusion, and institutional control. When Fleck’s concepts are enhanced by discourse analysis, these struggles can be revealed archaeologically, showing the layers of contestation beneath claims to neutrality and purity.Tracing these conflicts from antiquity to modernity, this book examines how thought styles are marginalized, suppressed, or institutionalized. It examines the oligarchic thought style in Plato’s responses to cultural trauma and loss of control, follows the spread of the Socratic caesura through Cicero’s philosophia and Shaftesbury’s civic reactivation of Socrates, and analyzes its role in the German university system. There, following the exclusion of Hobbes and Spinoza, Bildung became philosophy’s means of asserting autonomy from theological control, culminating in Kant’s Conflict of the Faculties.This book rejects single-determinant models of cultural change – economic, epistemic, discursive, or technological – while also challenging entrenched dichotomies such as myth vs. logos, Enlightenment vs. Counter-Enlightenment, and the public sphere vs. the state. Expanding on Fleck’s theory of thought styles, it develops an open epistemology that continuously reveals new dimensions of cultural facts and their institutional regulation.The book offers a methodologically innovative framework for understanding cultural change. As such, it will be of interest to scholars of philosophy, intellectual history, discourse analysis, and the history of ideas, as well as those exploring the interplay of thought, power, and institutional authority.

This book investigates Ludwik Fleck’s thought as a radical critique of institutionalized knowledge production, clarifying and extending his concepts to form an updated methodology. It reconstructs the cultural and institutional factors that, as Fleck insisted, are interactional – i.e., shaped by entangled processes rather than a single determinant. Offering an alternative to dominant models of cultural change, it demonstrates how new thought styles emerge, circulate, and face resistance in moments of revolutionary transformation.The central question addressed is how certain communities come to think in new ways – both in response to and contributing to cultural transformations. Such changes are fiercely contested – through censorship, exclusion, and institutional control. When Fleck’s concepts are enhanced by discourse analysis, these struggles can be revealed archaeologically, showing the layers of contestation beneath claims to neutrality and purity.Tracing these conflicts from antiquity to modernity, this book examines how thought styles are marginalized, suppressed, or institutionalized. It examines the oligarchic thought style in Plato’s responses to cultural trauma and loss of control, follows the spread of the Socratic caesura through Cicero’s philosophia and Shaftesbury’s civic reactivation of Socrates, and analyzes its role in the German university system. There, following the exclusion of Hobbes and Spinoza, Bildung became philosophy’s means of asserting autonomy from theological control, culminating in Kant’s Conflict of the Faculties.This book rejects single-determinant models of cultural change – economic, epistemic, discursive, or technological – while also challenging entrenched dichotomies such as myth vs. logos, Enlightenment vs. Counter-Enlightenment, and the public sphere vs. the state. Expanding on Fleck’s theory of thought styles, it develops an open epistemology that continuously reveals new dimensions of cultural facts and their institutional regulation.The book offers a methodologically innovative framework for understanding cultural change. As such, it will be of interest to scholars of philosophy, intellectual history, discourse analysis, and the history of ideas, as well as those exploring the interplay of thought, power, and institutional authority.

In an era marked by global crises, political polarization, and contested truths, literature has re-emerged as a vital space for ethical reflection and legal imagination. This interdisciplinary volume explores how contemporary political authors engage with pressing societal issues—ranging from political power, democracy, dictatorship, colonization, sexual freedom, artificial intelligence to historical memory—while navigating the boundaries of artistic freedom and public responsibility.Bringing together scholars from law, literature, philosophy, and sociology, the book examines the triangular relationship between author, text, and reception. It investigates how fiction can function as a site of dissent, normativity, and legal discourse, and how authors negotiate their roles as public intellectuals in a media-saturated world.With case studies on writers such as Juli Zeh, Robert Menasse, Shida Bazyar, Kazuo Ishiguro, Michel Houllebecq, Günther Grass, Dave Egger, Svetlana Alexievich, Boualem Sansal, Jean-Philippe Pleau, and others, this volume offers a timely and critical contribution to debates on freedom of expression, the ethics of authorship, and the political power of literature.