Unsettled Explorations of Law's Archives: The Allure and Anxiety of Solomon Islands' Court Records

Abstract

While there is now a rich and varied literature on the ‘archival turn’ in other disciplines, legal scholars have had relatively little to say about their own approach to archival materials, their conceptualisation of the archive, or the ethical implications of their work. This article draws on my own engagement with the records of land commissions and courts in Solomon Islands to consider the insights that might be gained from attending not only to the content of the archive nor even to its form, but to both the allure of the archive and the anxiety it induces. I suggest that paying attention to the affective dimensions of archival work casts new light on the ethical aspects of accessing, using, and interpreting court records. Furthermore, it draws attention to legal scholars' own investments in the archive, and the quiet, mundane, and epistemic violence of the law that might otherwise go unnoticed.