Legal Form, COVID and the Political: Notes Towards a Critique of the Corpus Iuris Pandemici

Rafał Mańko

doi:10.18778/0208-6069.96.03

Authors

Rafał Mańko University of Amsterdam & Nomos International Centre for the Study of Law, Power and Culture https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0927-2662

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/0208-6069.96.03

Keywords:

legal form, COVID-19, the political, critical legal theory

Abstract

The scholarly analysis and critique of law always take place under circumstances of scarcity of academic resources. At any given moment, the number of academic jurists mastering a given legal system and being capable of analysing and critiquing it at a professional scientific level is limited. The pandemic of COVID-19 only exacerbated this phenomenon, exposing the importance of making methodological and paradigmatic choices. What critical legal theory teaches us is that the choice of method and approach to the analysis and critique of legal materials is not politically neutral. Asking about the political goals and choices behind solutions adopted by legislators, ministers, civil servants, law enforcement officers, and judges, and about the actual interests impacted by their decisions is much more important and topical in these difficult times. A sociologically oriented critical legal theory can provide the necessary tools for such an analysis of the corpus iuris pandemici.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Althusser, Louis. 2005. For Marx. London–New York: Verso. https://doi.org/10.3917/dec.althu.2005.01 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3917/dec.althu.2005.01

Collins, Hugh. 2003. Regulating Contracts. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Dębska, Hanna. 2015. Władza, symbol, prawo. Społeczne tworzenie Trybunału Konstytucyjnego [Power, Symbol, Law: The Social Construction of the Constitutional Court]. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Sejmowe.

Douzinas, Costas. 2014. “A Short History of the British Critical Legal Conference or the Responsibility of the Critic.” Law and Critique 25(2): 187–198. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10978-014-9133-9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10978-014-9133-9

Douzinas, Costas. Adam Gearey. 2005. Critical Jurisprudence: The Political Philosophy of Justice. Oxford: Hart Publishing.

Drinóczi, Tímea. Agnieszka Bień-Kacała. 2020. “COVID-19 in Hungary and Poland: extraordinary situation and illiberal constitutionalism”. Theory and Practice of Legislation 8(1–2): 171–192. https://doi.org/10.1080/20508840.2020.1782109 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/20508840.2020.1782109

García, George I. Carlos G. Aguilar Sanchez. 2008. “Psychoanalysis and politics: The theory of ideology.” International Journal of Žižek Studies 2(3).

Griglio, Elena. 2020. “Parliamentary oversight under the COVID-19 emergency: striving against executive dominance”. Theory and Practice of Legislation 8(1–2): 49–70. https://doi.org/10.1080/20508840.2020.1789935 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/20508840.2020.1789935

Halpin, Andrew. 2006. “Ideology and Law.” Journal of Political Ideologies 11(2): 153–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569310600687932 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13569310600687932

Hesselink, Martijn. 2007. “European Contract Law: A Matter of Consumer Protection, Citizenship, or Justice?” European Review of Private Law 15(3): 323–348. DOI: https://doi.org/10.54648/ERPL2007021

Indellicato, Rosa. 2020. “Human rights and the educational role of technologies during the COVID-19 period.” Journal of Modern Science 45(2): 63–76. https://doi.org/10.13166/jms/131238 DOI: https://doi.org/10.13166/jms/131238

Joffe, Olimpiad. Michaił Szargorodski. 1963. Zagadnienia teorii prawa [Questions of Legal Theory]. Warszawa: PWN.

Kennedy, Duncan. 1976. “Form and Substance in Private Law Adjudication.” Harvard Law Review 89: 1685–1778. https://doi.org/10.2307/1340104 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1340104

Kennedy, Duncan. 1997. A critique of adjudication {fin de siècle}. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Koźmiński, Krzysztof. Jan Rudnicki. “The COVID Crisis as a Sample Tube with Contemporary Legal Phenomena.” Central European Journal of Comparative Law 1(2): 105–122. https://doi.org/10.47078/2020.2.105-121 DOI: https://doi.org/10.47078/2020.2.105-121

Kukovec, Damjan. 2014. “Hierarchies as Law.” Columbia Journal of European Law 21(1): 131–193. https://doi.org/10.1111/eulj.12113

Kukovec, Damjan. 2015. “Law and the Periphery.” European Law Journal 21(3): 406–428. https://doi.org/10.1111/eulj.12113 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/eulj.12113

Lara Ortiz, María Lidón. 2020. “Restrictions on freedom of movement and residence in the European Union due to COVID-19.” Journal of Modern Science 45(2): 105–120. https://doi.org/10.13166/jms/130707 DOI: https://doi.org/10.13166/jms/130707

Leszczyński, Adam. Andrzej Rychard. 2021. “Szczepienia akademików to „nagroda za pozycję społeczną?” Prof. Rychard: Kolejność jest sprawiedliwa.” Oko Press, March 8, 2021. https://oko.press/szczepienia-akademikow-prof-rychard-kolejnosc-jest-sprawiedliwa/ [Accessed: 10 May 2021].

Leyden, Wolfgang von. 1967. “Aristotle and the Concept of Law.” Philosophy: The Journal of the Royal Institute of Philosophy 42: 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031819100000826 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031819100000826

Mańko, Rafał. 2014. “Koncepcja interpelacji ideologicznej a krytyczny dyskurs o prawie” [The Notion of Ideological Interpellation and Critical Discourse on Law]. Archiwum Filozofii Prawa i Filozofii Społecznej 1: 41–54.

Mańko, Rafał. 2016. “Ideology and Legal Intepretation: Some Theoretical Considerations.” In Constitutional Values in Contemporary Legal Space. 117–126. Edited by Kalvis Torgāns. Riga: LU Akadēmiskais apgāds.

Mańko, Rafał. 2018. “Nauki prawne wobec problemu polityczności: zagadnienia wybrane z perspektywy jurysprudencji krytycznej” [Legal sciences towards the problem of the political: selected issues from the perspective of critical jurisprudence]. Archiwum Filozofii Prawa i Filozofii Społecznej 3: 38–50.

Mańko, Rafał. 2020a. “Legal Form, Ideology and the Political.” In Legal Scholarship and the Political: In Search of a New Paradigm. 17–44. Edited by Adam Sulikowski, Rafał Mańko, Jakub Łakomy. Warszawa: C.H. Beck.

Mańko, Rafał. 2020b. “Legislation and the Political: Towards Critical Legisprudence.” In New Perspectives on Legislation: A Comparative Approach. 11–36. Edited by Paweł Chmielnicki, Adam Sulikowski. Berlin: Peter Lang.

Mańko, Rafał. 2020c. “The Political as an Analytical Category in the Critical Study of Case Law (Theoretical Model and Case Study).” Critique of Law/Krytyka Prawa 12(3): 90–108. https://doi.org/10.7206/kp.2080-1084.397 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7206/kp.2080-1084.397

Mańko, Rafał. 2020d. “Dimensions of the Political in Adjudication: A Case Study.” Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Iuridica 92: 5–16. https://doi.org/10.18778/0208-6069.92.01 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18778/0208-6069.92.01

Mańko, Rafał. 2020e. “Being Central European, or some reflections on law, double peripherality and the political in times of transformation.” In Central and Eastern Europe as a Double Periphery? 17–44. Edited by Tomáš Gábriš, Ján Sombati. Berlin: Peter Lang Verlag.

Mańko, Rafał. 2021. “Judicial Decision-Making, Ideology, and the Political: Towards an Agonistic Theory of Adjudication.” Law and Critique. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10978-021-09288-w DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10978-021-09288-w

Mańko, Rafał. Jakub Łakomy. 2018. “In search for the ontological presuppositions of critical jurisprudence.” Critique of Law/Krytyka Prawa 10(2): 469–486. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7206/kp.2080-1084.215

Mańko, Rafał, Martin Škop. Markéta Štěpáníková. 2016. “Carving out Central Europe as a Space of Legal Culture: A Way out of Peripherality?” Wroclaw Review of Law, Administration and Economics 6(2): 3–28. https://doi.org/10.1515/wrlae-2018-0002 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/wrlae-2018-0002

Marrani, David. 2013. “Althusser in ‘Avatar’.” In Althusser and Law. Edited by Laurent de Sutter. Abingdon: Routledge.

Mouffe, Chantal. 2013. Agonistics: Thinking the World Politically. London: Verso.

Novkov, Julie. 2008. “Law and Political Ideologies”. In The Oxford Handbook of Law and Poltitics. Edited by Gregory A. Caldeira, R. Daniel Kelemen, Keith E. Whittington. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199208425.003.0036 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199208425.003.0036

Petrov, Jan. 2020. “The COVID-19 emergency in the age of executive aggrandizement: what role for legislative and judicial checks?”. Theory and Practice of Legislation 8(1–2): 71–92. https://doi.org/10.1080/20508840.2020.1788232 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/20508840.2020.1788232

Rychard, Andrzej. “Rychard: palnąłem o szczepieniu jako nagrodzie dla akademików. Może tylko kryterium wieku?” Oko Press, March 9, 2021. https://oko.press/rychard-palnalem-o-szczepieniu-jako-nagrodzie-dla-akademikow-moze-tylko-kryterium-wieku/ [Accessed: 10 May 2021].

Sabjàn, Nikolas. 2019. “Critical Approaches to Law and Ideology: Taking the Ideological Critique of the Rule of Law Seriously.” In Dny práva 2018. Days of law 2018. Část VIII. Návrat k nedemokratickým režimům ve střední Evropě?, Law and Critique in Central Europe. 127–149. Edited by Ladislav Vyhnánek, Zuzana Vikarská, Miloš Večeřa, Terezie Smejkalová, Jiří Valdhans. Brno: MUNI Press.

Stambulski, Michał. 2016. “The Critique of Ideological Legal Reason.” Wroclaw Review of Law, Administration and Economics 5(1): 48–60. https://doi.org/10.1515/wrlae-2015-0022 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/wrlae-2015-0022

Šimanskienė, Ligita. Jurgita Paužuolienė. Arnas Staškevičius. 2020. “Changes in society during COVID-19 pandemic: from the point of view of health care workers.” Journal of Modern Science 45(2): 93–104. https://doi.org/10.13166/jms/130702 DOI: https://doi.org/10.13166/jms/130702

Tacik, Przemysław. 2021. “The Blizzard of the World: COVID-19 and the Last Say of the State of Exception.” Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Iuridica 97: 5–13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18778/0208-6069.96.02

Wróblewski, Jerzy. 1976. “State and Law in Marxist Theory of State and Law.” Wayne Law Review 22: 815–739.

Yavich, Lev Samoilovich. 1976. Obshchaya teoriya prava [General Theory of Law]. Leningrad: Izdatel’stvo Leningradoskogo Universiteta.

Žižek, Slavoj. 2008 [1989]. The sublime object of ideology. London: Verso.