Against the Law

Browse Return to Previous Page       Related Subjects All Subjects Cultural Studies Culture & the Law

by Paul F. Campos, Pierre Schlag and Steven D. Smith

Duke University Press

Due/Published November 1996, 360 pages, paper

ISBN 0822318415

A fundamental critique of American law and legal thought, Against the Law consists of essays written from three different perspectives that coalesce into a deep criticism of contemporary legal culture. Unorthodox, irreverent, and provocative, this book demonstrates that for many in the legal community, law has become a kind of substitute religion--an essentially idolatrous practice composed of systematic self-misrepresentation and self-deception. Everybody enjoys kicking lawyers and the law, but in this case, much of the legal profession along with anyone considering a trip to law school might want to hear these three Professors of Law argue that the law, as commonly conceived, makes no sense.