Abstract
This paper examines the extent to which the law should mirror music as a discipline that embraces the value of community in the diverse sense in order to accommodate difference. The paper advocates that the law should shift from privileging community in the unified, singular sense in order to champion community in the collective sense, so that the law may genuinely support the inclusion of a diverse range of identities.To this end, the paper emphasises the importance for the law to embed the value of ‘community’ in the Derridean sense into its approach to embrace the innate differences between identities. The paper argues that at present the operation of ‘community’ in the Derridean sense is prevented by its discordant relationship with the formalist legal approach. This approach privileges the closure of the law above accommodating the values of diversity and possibility, which are central to the Derridean conception of ‘community’. Subsequently, the paper supports Ramshaw’s thesis that a reciprocal relationship between the law and music should be established in order to facilitate a shift from dominant legal thinking and praxis in order to promote ‘community’ in the Derridean sense. This paper concludes by supporting music as a powerful instrument to emancipate the law from its formalist tendencies, and ultimately to enable the value of ‘community’ in the Derridean sense to be harmoniously embedded into future legal thinking.
Highlights
Cotterell describes the law as a ‘ticketing’ system whereby the law’s authority enables its governance of individual admissions into the legal framework. 1 Cotterell’s use of symbolism highlights the law as being instrumental in the construction of its own concepts and the control of its parameters to the ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ of the legal world.2 The demonstration of law in this way affirms its active role in the construction of concepts such as ‘community’, which is rooted in the notion of identity
Whilst some scholars derive strength from the operation of community in the singular, Jacques Derrida expresses the inherent danger of a ‘community’, which is devoid of difference, and is conditional upon absolute unity, singularity, and closure
Ramshaw has advocated for a radical re-conceptualisation of existing legal thinking to mirror the music as a ‘foundation of community.’14 some are sceptical about the convergence between law and music, the power of music ‘as a means...to harmonise physical and spiritual forces’ should be emphasised
Summary
Cotterell describes the law as a ‘ticketing’ system whereby the law’s authority enables its governance of individual admissions into the legal framework. 1 Cotterell’s use of symbolism highlights the law as being instrumental in the construction of its own concepts and the control of its parameters to the ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ of the legal world.2 The demonstration of law in this way affirms its active role in the construction of concepts such as ‘community’, which is rooted in the notion of identity.3. Scholars identify music as an innovative model to facilitate the deconstruction of the law’s current rigid approach towards community so as to accept more diverse and fluid conceptions of identity.31 Fundamentally, through its incorporation of seemingly discordant and different concepts, music appears to provide an opportunity to ‘disarm the bombs of identity’ which operate as an armour to protect community from the invasion of the other.32
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