Overview

The emblem book was invented by the humanist lawyer Andrea Alciato in 1531. The preponderance of juridical and normative themes, of images of rule and infraction, of obedience and error in the emblem books is critical to their purpose and interest. This book outlines the history of the emblem tradition as a juridical genre, along with the concept of, and training in, obiter depicta, in things seen along the way to judgment. It argues that these books depict norms and abuses in classically derived forms that become the visual standards of governance. Despite the plethora of vivid figures and virtual symbols that define and transmit law, contemporary lawyers are not trained in the critical apprehension of the visible. This book is the first to reconstruct the history of the emblem tradition, evidencing the extent to which a gallery of images of law already exists and structuring how the public realm is displayed, made present and viewed.

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9781107546103

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'... a thorough work of scholarship ... This is a vital thesis that gestures towards another time and towards inexhaustible movements. Without fuller appreciation of the emblem tradition, so elegantly recuperated here, the visual turn in legal scholarship will remain ill conceived and our appreciation of the possibilities of social reorganisation and subjectivity will remain static.' Piyel Haldar, Law and Humanities

Author Information

Peter Goodrich is a Professor of Law and Director of the Program in Law and Humanities, Cardozo School of Law, New York. His previous books include Reading the Law (1986), Legal Discourse (1992), Oedipus Lex (1996) and, more recently, Laws of Love (2006) and, with Christian Delage, The Scene of the Mass Crime: History, Film and International Tribunals (2012). He is also co-author and co-producer of the award-winning feature documentary Auf Wiedersehen: Til We Meet Again (Diskin Films, 2011).

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