Abstract
AbstractLaws, rules, and texts, this chapter argues, deserve more sustained attention by legal anthropologists. They have tended to turn their backs on doctrine and texts, but law and legal phenomena have taken legalistic forms practically since the invention of writing. Historical and anthropological examples indicate that legalism – that is, the use of general rules and abstract categories – is typical of law as a social form. Paying attention to this aspect of law helps to explain legal phenomena that have long puzzled anthropologists, in particular, an enduring fascination with law, despite its repeated use to enact and legitimate power. A focus on legalism, moreover, allows scholars to compare diverse empirical examples from the rich corpus of historical legal studies with more contemporary ethnographic work in order to reflect upon the nature of law as a social form.
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