Rhetorical traditions and contemporary law / edited by Brian N. Larson, Elizabeth C. Britt.

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2025.

1st edition

202842

Law -- Language.

Law -- Methodology.

English language -- Rhetoric.

Rhetoric.

Rhetoric, Ancient.

Part I: Introduction

1. Rhetoric and Law: A Mosaic

Part II: Key rhetorical concepts animating contemporary American law

2. The ethos of originalism

3. The role of tradition in classical and contemporary argument

4. Practical reason in peril: From Cicero to Texas Health Presbyterian

Part III: Façade of neutrality

5. Deciphering Dobbs: Syllogism and Enthymeme in contemporary legal discourse

6. Eradicating ethos: Language, circumstances, and Locke’s Empirical language ideology in the Anglo-American hearsay principle

Part IV: Permeable boundaries

7. Searching for legal Topoi in the shadow docket

8. Sensus communis, voter-inflicted harms, and Schuette v. BAMN

9. (Vernacular) rhetorics for women’s rights

10. <Police Power> to stop-and-frisk: A pattern for persuasion

Part V: Law’s power to exclude voices

11. Framing the war on drugs: Judith Butler and legal rhetorical analysis

12. Ensnared by custom: Mary Astell and the American Bar Association on female autonomy

13. Dissoi Logoi, rhetorical listening, and legal education

Part VI: Looking outward and forward

14. An unconventional call for proposals.

Rhetorical Traditions and Contemporary Law is a collection of twelve case studies that explore the often-overlooked intersections of law and rhetoric. Drawing from rhetorical traditions of the past and present, the multidisciplinary roster of contributors analyzes contemporary legal theory and practice, from judicial opinions to legal scholarship, using significant texts or concepts in a rhetorical tradition. The essays demonstrate how legal texts function and to what end, while also considering how they might have worked differently. The volume sheds light on the usefulness of rhetoric in addressing some of today’s most pressing legal and social challenges. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core. - page i.

9781009524087

1 online resource (xii, 310 pages) : digital, PDF