Is Narrative Essential to the Law?: Precedent, Case Law and Judicial Emplotment

Storytelling pervades almost every aspect of the law. Many narrativistic legal elements, however, have in fact been little more than historically transitory. Given the precarious status of narrative at law, I argue we should focus instead on one of the most historically consistent acts of legal stor...

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Veröffentlicht in:Law, culture and the humanities culture and the humanities, 2019-06, Vol.15 (2), p.319-331
1. Verfasser: Bricker, Andrew Benjamin
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Storytelling pervades almost every aspect of the law. Many narrativistic legal elements, however, have in fact been little more than historically transitory. Given the precarious status of narrative at law, I argue we should focus instead on one of the most historically consistent acts of legal storytelling: the judicial opinion. Here I examine in particular the invocation of precedent in legal opinions, what I call “judicial emplotment,” as an almost archetypal act of formalized storytelling. As I go on to argue, the courts justify legal outcomes by invoking precedent, thereby placing decisions within a specific and heavily formalized legal-narrative structure.
ISSN:1743-8721
1743-9752
DOI:10.1177/1743872115627413