The case for legal technique
A tentative map for legal mobilization
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1267Keywords:
Social movements, transformation of dispute, strategy of rupture, legal mobilization, common goodsAbstract
In an apparently paradoxical or contradictory way, our new century seems to show two trends: on the one hand, an increasingly informal, disorganized, oftentimes violent spate of uprisings, and on the other hand, a growing exploitation of legal strategies. Given these developments, how do we rethink the relationship between social struggles and law? This article employs a casuistic approach in order to explore current modes of interconnections between law and society. It argues that law is that language that through the institution of norms gives shape to the world of social relations. Through this same language, law performs actions in this world that it institutes through its categories. This piece also proposes a technical understanding of the concept of legal mobilization and argues that the innovative use of legal technique (rather than a political grammar) and the institutions of social cooperation could be seen as elements that re-describe and re-signify legal mobilization.
Downloads
Metrics
Downloads:
PDF_12_5_Chiaramonte_OSLS 421
XML_12_5_Chiaramonte_OSLS 15
References
Agenzia Stampa CARC, 2019. [Italia] Diario di bordo: alla scoperta del Movimento NO TAP. CARC [online], 6 January. Available from: https://www.carc.it/2019/01/06/italia-diario-di-bordo-alla-scoperta-del-movimento-no-tap/ [Accessed 26 January 2022].
Amendola, A., 2016. Costituzioni precarie. Rome: Manifestolibri.
Bailey, S., and Mattei, U., 2013. Social Movements as Constituent Power: The Italian Struggle for the Commons. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, 20(2), 965–1013. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2979/indjglolegstu.20.2.965
Barkan, S., 2003. Criminal Prosecution and Trial: A Neglected Dynamic in The Study of Law and Social Movements. Paper submitted for presentation at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Atlanta. 16 August.
Barzilai, G., 2007. The Ambivalent Language of Lawyers in Israel. In: T.C. Halliday, L. Karpik and M.M. Feeley, eds., Fighting for Political Freedom. Oxford: Hart, Oñati International Series in Law and Society, 247–277.
Bhandar, B., 2012. Strategies of Legal Rupture: The Politics of Judgment. Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice [online], 30(2), 59–78. Available from: https://doi.org/10.22329/wyaj.v30i2.4369 [Accessed 26 January 2022]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22329/wyaj.v30i2.4369
Cesarini Sforza, W., (with M. Spanò, ed.), 2018. Il diritto dei privati. Macerata: Quodlibet.
Chatterjee, P., 2004. The Politics of the Governed: Reflections on Popular Politics in Most of the World. New York: Columbia University Press.
Chiaramonte, X., 2012. Un caso di disgregazione creativa: La corte di cassazione sul matrimonio omosessuale. Sociologia del diritto, 2, 151–158. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3280/SD2012-002008
Chiaramonte, X., 2018. Social movements and the legal field: Becoming-Constituent. Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law [online], 22(1), 376–393. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1163/18757413_022001015 [Accessed 12 November 2021]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/18757413_022001015
Chiaramonte, X., 2019. Governare il conflitto: La criminalizzazione del movimento No Tav. Milan: Meltemi.
Chiaramonte, X., 2020. The struggle for law: legal strategies, environmental struggles and climate actions in Italy. Oñati Socio-Legal Series [online], 10(4), 932–954. Available from: https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1153 [Accessed 26 January 2022]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1153
Chiaramonte, X., and Senaldi, A., eds., 2018. Violenza politica: Una ridefinizione del concetto oltre la depoliticizzazione. Milan: Ledizioni.
Christodoulidis, E., 2009. Strategies of Rupture. Law Critique, 20, 3–26. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10978-008-9042-x
Dardot, P., and Laval, C., 2019. Common: On Revolution in the 21st Century. London: Bloomsbury.
Della Porta, D., and Diani, M., 2006. Social Movements: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell.
Der Spiegel, 2008. “There Is No Such Thing as Absolute Evil”. Der Spiegel [online], 21 November. Available from: https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-notorious-lawyer-jacques-verges-there-is-no-such-thing-as-absolute-evil-a-591943.html [Accessed 26 January 2022].
Fiorentino, D., and Chiaramonte, X., 2019. Il caso 7 aprile: Il processo politico dall’Autonomia Operaia ai No Tav. Milan: Mimesis.
Foucault, M., 1981. Préface à la deuxième edition. In: J. Vergès, De la stratégie judiciaire. Paris: Minuit, 5–13. (Now in: Foucault, M., 1994. Dits et écrits 1954–1988 tome 4, texte no. 290. Paris: Gallimard). DOI: https://doi.org/10.14375/NP.9782070738441
Foucault, M., 1983. The Subject and Power. Why Study Power: The Question of the Subject How Is Power Exercised? Critical Inquiry, 8(4), 777–795. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/448181
Friedman, L., 1975. The Legal System: A Social Science Perspective. New York City: Russell Sage Foundation.
Halliday, T., Karpik, L., and Feeley, M., 2007. The Legal Complex in Struggles for Political Liberalism. In: T.C. Halliday, L. Karpik and M.M. Feeley, eds., Fighting for Political Freedom. Oxford: Hart, Oñati International Series in Law and Society, 1–40.
Klein, N., 2001. Reclaiming the Commons. New Left Review [online], 9 (May-June). Available from: https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii9/articles/naomi-klein-reclaiming-the-commons [Accessed 26 January 2022].
Lehoucq, E., and Taylor, W. 2020. Conceptualizing Legal Mobilization: How Should We Understand the Deployment of Legal Strategies? Law & Social Inquiry, 45(1), 166–193. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/lsi.2019.59
Marella, M.R., ed., 2012. Oltre il pubblico e il privato: Per un diritto dei beni comuni. Verona: Ombre Corte.
Mather, L., and Yngvesson, B., 1980–81. Language, Audience and the Transformation of Disputes. Law & Society Review, 15(3–4), 775–822. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3053512
McAdam, D., 1982. Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930–1970. University of Chicago Press.
McCammon, H.J., and McGrath, A.R., 2015. Litigating Change? Social Movements and the Court System. Sociology Compass, 9(2), 128–139. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12243
McCann, M., 2006. Law and Social Movements: Contemporary Perspectives. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 2(17–38), 29–31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.lawsocsci.2.081805.105917
Melucci, A., 1982. L’invenzione del presente: Movimenti, identità, bisogni individuali. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Merry, S.E., 1990. Getting Justice and Getting Even: Legal Consciousness among Working-Class Americans. University of Chicago Press.
Milner, N., 1987. The Right to Refuse Treatment: Four Case Studies of Legal Mobilization. Law & Society Review, 21(3), 447–85. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3053378
Napoli, P., 2015. Il Comune: un’appartenenza non proprietaria. Alfabeta2 [online], 25 April. Available from: https://www.alfabeta2.it/2015/04/25/il-comune-unappartenenza-non-proprietaria/ [Accessed 26 January 2022].
NeJaime, D., 2013. Constitutional Change, Courts, and Social Movements. Michigan Law Review [online], 111, 6(4), 877–902. Available from: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol111/iss6/4/ [Accessed 26 January 2022].
Rajagopal, B., 2005. Limits of law in counter-hegemonic globalization: the Indian Supreme Court and the Narmada Valley struggle. In: B.S. Santos and C.A. Rodríguez-Garavito, eds., Law and Globalization from Below: Towards a Cosmopolitan Legality [online]. Cambridge University Press, 183–217. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511494093.008 [Accessed 26 January 2022]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511494093.008
Rebughini, P., 2011. Violenza e spazio urbano: Rappresentazioni e significati della violenza nella città contemporanea. Milan: Guerini.
Romano, S. (with M. Croce, ed.), 2018. L’ordinamento giuridico. Macerata: Quodlibet.
Sarat, A., and Scheingold, S., 2006. Cause Lawyering and Social Movements. Stanford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9780804767965
Shapiro, M., 1980. Courts: A Comparative and Political Analysis. University of Chicago Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226161341.001.0001
Spanò, M., 2013. Istituire i beni comuni: Una prospettiva filosofico-giuridica. Politica & Società, 3, 427–448.
Spanò, M., 2017. La normatività dei governati. Un tracciato post-coloniale. Scienza & Política [online], 29(57), 247–269. Available from: https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1825-9618/7563 [Accessed 26 January 2022].
Spanò, M., 2020. “Perché non rendi poi quel che prometti allor?” Tecniche e ideologie della giuridificazione della natura. In: Y. Thomas and J. Chiffoleau (with M. Spanò, ed.), L’istituzione della natura. Macerata: Quodlibet.
Terror’s Advocate, 2007. Film. Directed by Barbet Schroeder. France: La Sofica Uni Etoile 3 et al.
Thomas, Y., 2005. L’extrême et l’ordinaire: Remarques sur le cas médiéval de la communauté disparue. In: J. Passeron and J. Revel, eds., Penser par cas [online]. Paris: EHESS. Available from: https://doi.org/10.4000/books.editionsehess.19926 [Accessed 26 January 2022]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/books.editionsehess.19926
Tilly, C., 1978. From Mobilization to Revolution. Reading: Addison-Wesley.
Tilly, C., 2015. Popular Contention in Great Britain, 1758–1834. Abingdon: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315632698
Tilly, C., and Tarrow, S., 2006. Contentious Politics. 1st ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Tomasello, F., 2015. La violenza: Saggio sulle frontiere del político. Castel San Pietro Romano: Manifestolibri.
Touraine, A., 1981. The Voice and the Eye: An Analysis of Social Movements. Cambridge University Press.
Vergès, J., 1968. De la stratégie judiciaire. Paris: Minuit.
Wilderson, F.B., 2011. The vengeance of vertigo: Aphasia and abjection in the political trials of black insurgents. Tensions, 5, 1–41. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25071/1913-5874/37360
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Xenia Chiaramonte
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
OSLS strictly respects intellectual property rights and it is our policy that the author retains copyright, and articles are made available under a Creative Commons licence. The Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution No-Derivatives licence is our default licence, further details available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 If this is not acceptable to you, please contact us.
The non-exclusive permission you grant to us includes the rights to disseminate the bibliographic details of the article, including the abstract supplied by you, and to authorise others, including bibliographic databases, indexing and contents alerting services, to copy and communicate these details.
For information on how to share and store your own article at each stage of production from submission to final publication, please read our Self-Archiving and Sharing policy.
The Copyright Notice showing the author and co-authors, and the Creative Commons license will be displayed on the article, and you must agree to this as part of the submission process. Please ensure that all co-authors are properly attributed and that they understand and accept these terms.
