CORE Seminar in Legal Theory: Liora ISRAEL (EHESS) (Brussel: VUB, Room C 2.07B, 24 NOV 2023)

   

To the Left of Law

Introduction

At the crossroads between sociology and history, the work of Liora Israël shows that the period which extends from May 68 to the arrival of the left in power in France in 1981 is a pivotal moment in relations between law and politics. It addresses trajectories of lawyers and magistrates, a selection of major trials and the history of the birth of judicial unionism, as well as debates on the organization of law firms and the many controversies relating to the social role of prisons, mobilizations in favor of immigrants or for the legalization of abortion. All these questions, at the heart of every critical reflection on law as ideology in the service of dominant interests at the time, have constituted as many milestones in the formation of a "left of law", whose heritage continues to mark contemporary French society. By focusing on the role of lawyers and justice thanks to unpublished interviews and many archives, this work aims at renewing the analysis of the relations between law and social movements and highlights the way in which mobilizations, including the most radical, reveal the political potential of the law.

Biographical note

Liora Israël is Research Director at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, in Paris. A legal sociologist, she has co-created the Ouvroir de Sciences Sociales Potentielles at EHESS – where she is also responsible for the master’s program as well as the doctoral school. Her books include Robes noires, années sombres. La Résistance dans les milieux judiciaires (Paris, Fayard, 2005), L’arme du droit (Paris, Presses de Sciences-Po, 2009) and A la gauche du droit. Mobilisations politiques du droit et de la justice en France (1968-1981) (Paris, EHESS Ed., 2020).

Practical information

Thursday 14 November 2023, 12 am  

Vrije Universiteit Brussel Room: Local C2.07.B / (contact laurent dot desutter at vub dot be for the Teams-link)

Brussels Humanities, Sciences & Engineering Campus