Reading Law: On Law as a Textual Phenomenon

Abstract

In contrast to recent German debates stating that jurisprudence should transform itself from a hermeneutic science of texts into a practical science of decision making, this essay proposes a return to the text. Text, however, will then have to be understood no longer as merely a written form of language. Rather, we should attempt to conceive of the legal system itself as a specific form of textuality. I try to develop and elaborate this idea by regarding law from the various perspectives of Paul de Man’s literary criticism, John Austin’s discussion of performative utterances, Roland Barthes’ deconstruction of hermeneutics, media theory, and an ex negativo approach based on Carl Schmitt’s scorn for normativism. Finally, I ask for possible practical consequences that the newly designed textual understanding of the legal procedure might have.