What is law?

Speaker

Professor Brian Z Tamanaha (William Gardiner Hammond Professor of Law, Washington University Law)

About the talk

Professor Tamanaha will articulate an empirically grounded theory of law applicable throughout history and across different societies based on his new book. Unlike natural law theory or analytical jurisprudence, which are narrow, abstract, ahistorical, and detached from society, Tamanaha’s theory presents a holistic vision of law within society, evolving in connection with social, cultural, economic, political, ecological, and technological factors. He revives a largely forgotten theoretical perspective on law that runs from Montesquieu through the legal realists to the present. He explains why the classic question ‘what is law?’ has never been resolved, and casts doubt on theorists’ claims about necessary and universal truths about law. He develops a theory of law as a social institution with varying forms and functions, tracing law from hunter-gatherer societies to the modern state and beyond. Tamanaha’s theory accounts for social influences on law, legal influences on society, law and domination, multifunctional governmental uses of law legal pluralism, international law, and other legal aspects largely overlooked in jurisprudence.

Queries

Please email the UCL Laws events team at laws-events@ucl.ac.uk