Description
Book SynopsisBruno Latour is one of the leading sociologists in the world today. The author was give unparalleled access to this closed and hugely important institution of the French state, the Conseil d'Etat, and was able to carry out an in-depth study of how it works.
Trade Review"A fascinating ethnography of a highly renowned but usually opaque French institution, and a welcome foray into the anthropology of law."
EASA Journal of Social Anthropology "What is legal reasoning? In this lively ethnography, Bruno Latour examines the almost physical work of intertextuality at the Conseil d'Etat, the French supreme court. With his inimitable verve, he shows the fragility and flexibility that secures the force of law."
David Stark, Columbia University
"What if our most subtle observer-theorist of socially constructed knowledge were given total access to a secret, powerful legal institution? The answer to this fantasy of legal scholars is The Making of Law, Bruno Latour's brilliant account of his philosophical fieldwork inside the French council of state. What he finds - the alchemical refinement of legal issues to the point of a purportedly pure legality - will be fascinating for lawyers, comparativists, anthropologists, political scientists, and anyone who cares about how law is made."
Noah Feldman, Harvard Law School
"A completely compelling account of the workings of French administrative law - surely never so closely observed as here - that joins with reflections on scientific authority to initiate comparative anthropology 'all over again'. And we do not have to ask where 'society' is: The Making of Law brilliantly exemplifies the making of society."
Marilyn Strathern, University of Cambridge
Table of ContentsPreface to the English edition vi
1 In the shadow of Bonaparte 1
2 How to make a file ripe for use 70
3 A body in a palace 107
4 The passage of law 127
5 Scientific objects and legal objectivity 198
6 Talking of law? 244
Glossary of technical terms 278
Bibliography 282
Index 291
