Právo v kontextu umění, filmu a literatury

Jurisprudence usually examines law and its system as a set of rules and doctrines, but the linguistic and rhetorical means it uses remain almost entirely outside the realm of legal scholars, despite the fact that language plays a crucial role in both law-making as well as in its implementation. This book acquaints the reader with the most basic principles of the interdisciplinary way of examining law, especially with the different ways of interaction of different art forms and legal texts. We examine how law is represented in different cultural contexts, and we also explore the possibilities of interpreting legal texts as literary and artistic products in the broadest sense.

We analyze some of central themes of law and legal science but examine them through a range of disciplinary approaches, including art, poetry, film, and literature. Interaction with various texts, their cultural-historical contexts or representations creates a specific dynamics, thanks to which the readers of this book can gain a deeper knowledge of legal and legal theoretical issues. We also take advantage of more conventional methods of legal science working at the intersection of law, politics and philosophy and acting together to understand existing legal institutions and concepts, and take into account social impacts of the rule of law on society and individuals. We believe it is important to be able to recognize, how a story is subsequently construed in court decisions, which is then expressed in the language of law, and to learn to read court arguments and recognize ways in which words and phrases of legal language can either reproduce or change the basic cultural and political setting of the society. The team of authors recognizes the fact that cultural and artistic media are able to point to the systemic problems law faces, and also provide a finer optics that provide us with a much richer cognitive field from which we can draw the analysis of key legal issues; such a field is not limited to a doctrinal understanding of law. In a nutshell, this book draws attention to stories that for various reasons cannot be reflected in the processes of interpreting law.