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The Politics of Jurisprudence Revisited: A Swedish Realist in Historical Context
Author(s) -
Cotterrell Roger
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
ratio juris
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.344
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 1467-9337
pISSN - 0952-1917
DOI - 10.1111/raju.12064
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , epistemology , jurisprudence , scope (computer science) , politics , interpreter , relation (database) , meaning (existential) , sociology , law , law and economics , political science , philosophy , history , computer science , database , programming language , archaeology
This article argues that juristic theories must be understood in relation to the historical conditions in which they have emerged. This is not to reduce theories to their context but to gain essential insight into their aims, meaning, and scope with the aid of such “external” reference points. Here I use the ideas of the Swedish legal realist V ilhelm L undstedt to illustrate these claims, choosing his juristic theory for this purpose specifically because it has been so widely seen (at least by non‐Scandinavian interpreters) as deeply puzzling and “extreme.” The article argues that his central ideas are readily intelligible in historical context. But such a contextual examination of juristic ideas also makes it possible to assess what in them can properly travel beyond immediate context : in other words, what insights about the nature of the jurist's task can legitimately be taken from them for more universal application. L undstedt's work, despite having been largely ignored or excluded from international juristic debate, has something to offer here if seen through a contextualising lens that sets the possibilities for its broader application in sharp relief.