Legal Geographies Reader

Law, Power and Space

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by Nicholas Blomley, David Delaney and Richard Ford

Blackwell Publishers

Due/Published February 2001, 352 pages, paper

ISBN 063122016X

This Reader brings together key writings on the relationship between law and geography. In so doing, it has fostered the creation of an intellectual forum for scholars and students in related disciplines, who have until now been working in parallel, rather than in tandem. Although a recent area of study, the intersection between these fields is becoming increasingly important with the recognition that space is socially produced and that it is riddled with power relations.

The chapters in this Reader are organized around geographic scale--local, national, global--and each section includes an introductory essay contextualizing the selections and explaining their contribution. The topics covered include public space, local racisms, property and the city, environmental regulation, state formation and decentralization and international-global legalities. A comprehensive introduction reviews the current state of the field.-

Contents:

Foreword: Gordon L. Clark (Department of Geography, Oxford University).
Acknowledgments.
List of Contributors.
Preface: Where is Law?
Part I: Legal Places:
Section 1: Public Space:
Introduction: Nicholas Blomley (Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University).
1. The Annihilation of Space by Law: The Roots and Implications of Anti-Homeless Laws in the United States: Don Mitchell (Department of Geography, Syracuse University).
2. Controlling Chronic Misconduct in City Spaces: Of Panhandlers, Skid Rows and Public-Space Zoning: Robert. C. Ellickson (School of Law, Yale University).
3. Girls and the Getaway: Cars, Culture, and the Predicament of Gendered Space: Carol. Sanger (School of Law, Columbia University).
4. Out of Place: Symbolic Domains, Religious Rights and the Cultural Contract: Davina Cooper (School of Law, University of Warwick).
Section 2: Local Racisms and the Law:
Introduction: Richard T. Ford (School of Law, Stanford University).
5. The Boundaries of Responsibility: Interpretations of Geography in School Desegregation Cases: David Delaney (Department of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought, Amherst College).
6. Polluting the Body Politic: Race and Urban Location: David Theo Goldberg (Department of Justice Studies, Arizona State University).
7. The Boundaries of Race: Political Geography in Legal Analysis: Richard T. Ford (School of Law, Stanford University).
8. The Legitimacy of Judicial Decision Making in the Context of Richmond v Croson: Gordon L. Clark (Department of Geography, Oxford University).
Section 3: Property and the City:
Introduction: Nicholas Blomley (Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University).
9. Landscapes of Property: Nicholas Blomley (Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University).
10. Residential Rent Control: Margaret Radin (School of Law, Stanford University).
11. Suspended in Space: Bedouins Under the Law of Israel: Ronen Shamir (Department of Sociology, Tel-Aviv University).
12. Picturesque Visions: Simon Ryan(School of Arts and Sciences, Australian Catholic University).
Part II: National Legalities:
Section 1: State Formation and Legal Centralization:
Introduction: Richard T. Ford (School of Law, Stanford University).
13. A Legal History of Cities: G. Frug (School of Law, Harvard University).
14. Territorialization and State Power in Thailand: Peter Vandergeest (Department of Pacific and Asian Studies, University of Victoria) and Nancy Lee Peluso (School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University).
15. Rabies Rides the Fast Train: Transnational Interactions in Post-Colonial Times: Eve Darian-Smith (Department of Anthropology, University of California at Santa Barbara).
16. Law's Territory (A history of jurisdiction): Richard T. Ford (School of Law, Stanford University).
Section 2: Environmental Regulation:
Introduction: David Delaney (Department of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought, Amherst College).
17. Property Rights and the Economy of Nature: Understanding Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council: Joseph Sax (Boalt School of Law, University of California, Berkeley).
18. The Property Rights Movement: How it Began, Where it is Headed: Nancie Marzulla (President and Chief Legal Counsel, Defenders of Property Rights, Washington D. C.).
Part III: Globalization and Law:
Introduction: David Delaney (Department of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought, Amherst College).
19. 'Let Them Eat Cake': Globalization, Postmodern Colonialism and the Possibilities of Justice: Susan Silbey (Department of Sociology, Wellesley College).
20. The View from the International Plane: Perspective and Scale in the Architecture of Colonial International Law: Annelise Riles (Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge).
21. Border Crossings: NAFTA, Regulatory Restructuring and the Politics of Place: Ruth Buchanan (School of Law, University of British Columbia).
22. Anthropological Approaches to Law and Society in Conditions of Globalization: Rosemary Coombe (Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto)