The reasonable person : a legal biography / Valentine Jeutner.

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2024.

1st edition

201755

Law -- History -- Research -- Methodology.

Common law -- Methodology.

Law -- Decision making -- Philosophy.

Reason.

1 The reasonable person in the past

1.1 Geru maa: the silent one

1.2 Ho spoudaios: the earnest one

1.3 Paterfamilias: the head of the family

2 The reasonable person in Birmingham

2.1 Mr Blyth

2.2 The Scottish sentimentalists

2.3 Baron Alderson

3 The reasonable person in Clapham

3.1 Omnès omnibus

3.2 Adolphe Quetelet

3.3 Eileen Sayers

4 The reasonable person in the Colonies

4.1 Jackson, son of Frank

4.2 The man on the Molue bus

4.3 Sir David Maxwell Fyfe

5 The reasonable person on the Battlefield

5.1 Lothar Rendulic

5.2 Human rights-niks

5.3 Little child

6 The reasonable person in the Future

6.1 Avatars

6.2 Artificial intelligence

6.3 You

Conclusion

C.1 An other

C.2 A listener

C.3 A human.

Jeutner argues that the reasonable person is, at heart, an empathetic perspective-taking device, by tracing the standard of the reasonable person across time, legal fields and countries. Beginning with a review of imaginary legal figures in the legal systems of ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, the book explains why the common law's reasonable person emerged amidst the British industrialisation under the influence of Scottish Enlightenment thinking. Following the figure into colonial courts, onto battlefields and into self-driving cars, the book contends that the reasonable person invites judges, jury-members, and lawyers to take another person's perspective when assessing their own or another person's conduct. The perspective of another is taken by means of empathy, by feeling what others might feel in a particular situation. Thus construed, the figure of the reasonable person can help us make more accurate judgments in a diverse world. Offers the most comprehensive account to date of the function and history of the reasonable person. Resembles a biography of an actual person, making the book easy to read and accessible to a wide range of readers including those not legally-trained. Covers a broad span of historical and geographical context, from Ancient Egypt to self-driving cars. - Publisher's website.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

9781009445627

xviii, 195 pages ; 25 cm