Scholars of law, theology, political science, and philosophy evaluate the role of emotion in the practice and conception of law and justice. Exploring the part that emotions such as disgust, shame, remorse, the desire for revenge, and love, all play in legal settings, the authors debate the ways that emotion should or should not be used in the decision making processes of judges, lawyers, and juries, and explore the possibility of an emotional hierarchy, and ways to evaluate emotion in sensational cases, such as death sentencing and hate crimes. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This anthology treats the role that emotions play, don't play, and ought to play in the practice and conception of law and justice. The work consists largely of original essays, by scholars of law, theology, political science and philosophy.

Although the connection of law, passion and emotion has become an established focus in legal scholarship, the extent to which emotion has always been, and continues to be, a significant influence in informing legal reasoning, decision-making, decision-avoidance and legal judgment - rather than an adjunct - is still a matter for critical analysis. Engaging with the underlying social context in which emotional states are a motivational force - and have produced key legal principles and controversial judgments, as evidenced in a range of illustrative legal cases - Law and the Passions: A Discrete History provides a uniquely inclusive commentary on the significance and influence of emotions in the history and continuing development of legal institutions and legal dogma. Law, it is argued, is a passion; and, as such, it is a primarily emotional endeavour.

Throughout the history of moral, political, and legal philosophy, many have portrayed passions and emotions as being opposed to reason and good judgment. At the same time, others have defended passions and emotions as tempering reason and enriching judgment, and there is mounting empirical evidence linking emotions to moral judgment. In Passions and Emotions, a group of prominent scholars in philosophy, political science, and law explore three clusters of issues: “Passion & Impartiality: Passions & Emotions in Moral Judgment”; “Passion & Motivation: Passions & Emotions in Democratic Politics”; and “Passion & Dispassion: Passions & Emotions in Legal Interpretation.” This timely, interdisciplinary volume examines many of the theoretical and practical legal, political, and moral issues raised by such questions.

Engaging with the underlying social context in which emotions are a motivational force, Law and the Passions provides a uniquely inclusive commentary on the significance and influence of emotions in the history and continuing development of legal judgment, policy formation, legal practice and legal dogma. Although the emotionality of the law and the use of emotional tropes in legal discourse has become an established focus in recent scholarship, the extent to which emotion and the passions have informed decision-making, decision-avoidance and legal reasoning – rather than as simply an adjunct – is still a matter for critical analysis. As evidenced in a range of illustrative legal cases, emotions have been instrumental in the evolution of key legal principles and have produced many controversial judgments. Addressing the latent influence of fear, hate, love and compassion, the book explores the mutability of law and its transformative power, especially when faced with fluctuating social mores. The textual nature of law and the impact of literary forms on legal actors are also critically examined to further elucidate the idea of law-making as both rational and emotional, and significantly as an essential activity of the empathic imagination. To this end, it is suggested that critical scholarship on law, the passions and emotions not only advances our understanding of the inner workings of law, it constitutes a fundamental part of our moral reasoning, and has the capacity to articulate the conditions for a more dynamic, adaptable, ethical and effective legal institution. This interdisciplinary book will be of interest to scholars and students in the fields of law and literature, legal theory, legal philosophy, law and the humanities, legal aesthetics, sociology of law, politics, law and policy, human rights, general jurisprudence and social justice, as well as cultural studies.

A history of the government's regulation of sexual behavior traces the historical purposes behind the prohibition against sodomy in early America and continues with a discussion of how the law was referenced in different contexts in later years, covering such topics as the McCarthy era, the sexual revolution of the 1960s, and the 2003 Supreme Court decision to decriminalize private sex between consenting adults. 20,000 first printing.