Legal Artifices: Ten Essays on Roman Law in the Present Tense - (Encounters in Law & Philosophy) by Yan Thomas (Paperback)

About the Book

This volume collects and translates 10 essays by renowned Roman and legal history specialist Yan Thomas (1943-2008), the most renowned French jurist of the 20th century.

Book Synopsis

Yan Thomas taught at the École des Hautes Études (Paris) until his death in 2008 at the age of 56. Truly seminal as a specialist in Roman and legal history, Thomas left a work that consists mainly of numerous articles. His work is best described as an inventory of genealogical prolegomena to the understanding of the Western legal tradition. The essays collected here provide a clear insight into the stakes of Thomas' renowned inquiries. Thomas' investigations into Roman history and law focus, case-by-case, upon the law's operations - and, by extension, upon their expansion and transmission.

From the Back Cover

Presents for the first time in English ten essays of Yan Thomas (1943-2008), whose contributions to Roman law revolutionised legal scholarship. Western legal professionals habitually rely on a version of legal history that bolsters their own sway over the present. The legal mythologies undergirding these self-serving proposals are divided between doctrines of law's immemorial nature, and of its sacred (Roman) origins. Thomas's de-mythicized jurisprudence dismisses these sagas. The seismic waves that his work has sent across the humanities and social sciences include, as illustrated in this volume, the claims that: ● Law is not a set of rules, but the operation of legal arguments. Lawyers are the agents of the legal denaturalization of the world. ● Rome is misread as an essentially political entity. The effect exercised on Roman society by its jurists ranks before that of its politicians. ● Despite a widely accepted opposition between modern labour law and the Roman renting-out of a slave's workforce, there exist unexpected commonalities. ● 'Legal order' and 'responsibility' are among the inventions of modern law. They are not part of the timeless inventory of the world. Yan Thomas, a French Roman law scholar, taught at the École des Hautes Études (Paris).

Review Quotes

Yan Thomas was the most creative jurist, and the finest historian of Roman law, in his generation. No one did so much to study the language and reveal the thought of the Roman jurists. To have access to his work in English is an invaluable contribution.-- "Clifford Ando, University of Chicago"

About the Author

Yan Thomas (1943), a seminal specialist on Roman social and legal institutions and legal anthropology, taught at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes (Paris), until his death in 2008.

Alain Pottage is Professor of Law at SciencesPo, Paris. He was previously Professor of Law at the London School of Economics. His work focuses on the history and theory of intellectual prop- erty and questions relating to law and the Anthropocene.

Thanos Zartaloudis is a Reader in Legal Theory and History at Kent Law School, University of Kent, and Lecturer in History and Theory Studies at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.

Anton Schütz is an Honorary Fellow of Kent Law School, University of Kent. He is co-editor of the book series Encounters in Law and Philosophy (EUP). His current studies focus on right-centred vs. law-centred normative orders

Thanos Zartaloudis is a Reader in Legal Theory and History at Kent Law School, University of Kent, and Lecturer in History and Theory Studies at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.

Cooper Francis is an essayist and translator who completed his post-graduate studies at the Center for Research in Modern European Philosophy, Kings College London.

Chantal Schütz is Head of Department of Languages and Cultures at the École Polytechnique, Paris. Her recent work is on early modern broadside ballads; Thomas Middleton; Shakespeare; and performances history

Anton Schütz is an Honorary Fellow of Kent Law School, University of Kent. He is co-editor of the book series Encounters in Law and Philosophy (EUP). His current studies focus on right-centred vs. law-centred normative orders

Chantal Schütz is Head of Department of Languages and Cultures at the École Polytechnique, Paris. Her recent work is on early modern broadside ballads; Thomas Middleton; Shakespeare; and performances history