The Many Texts of the Law
British Journal of American Legal Studies, Forthcoming
35 Pages Posted: 7 May 2014
Date Written: May 2, 2014
Abstract
This paper contends that even as jurists invoke the official canonic version of the legal text, it is in danger of being replaced for the jurist, as well as for the lay person, if it has not been substituted already, by some apocryphal, inauthentic or casual text. We argue that in addition to the approximate nature of legal knowledge, the overuse of overedited and perverted casebooks, as well as the distribution of legal information among imperfect sources – some official but partial, others inauthentic but highly accessible, and a few reliable but highly unaffordable commercial sources – are largely responsible for this situation.
Keywords: jurisprudence, legal education, legal philosophy, rule of law, legal text
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