This paper reflects on the experience of presenting a limit test case based on passion/provocation cases against a proposed ‘right to passions’ suggested by proponents of a sentimental jurisprudence. The limit case, presented at the 2010 CLC held in Utrecht, invited the audience to reflect on the human right to a provocation defence, a right enshrined in the criminal law as a concession to ‘human frailty’ in ‘crimes of passion’ for centuries.

A recent collection of essays,Feminist Perspectives on Law and Theory,is here taken as the starting point for an analysis of the political trajectory of feminist jurisprudence. The ‘new wave’ of feminism borrows much of its inspiration from continental theory – from Derrida, Deleuze and Irigaray – and has been subject to criticism for its attention to language and its turn towards culture and aesthetics. Reviewing the materialist bases of the new wave, and particularly its concern with the immediacies of the (...) body and events, it is argued here that it represents a return to the radicalism of feminist legal theory. (shrink)

In academic contexts, it is always likely thatan author who criticises another's work – in abook review, or an article – will know theother author personally. They may well befriends. Reflecting upon the intimacy of thepublic sphere, this article responds to thetone of a recent critique of the style andpolitics of postmodern jurisprudence. Questionsof style, tone and scriptural face are anunconventional point of entry into a discussionof feminism, aesthetics and law. It is arguedhere that these issues are intrinsic to theembodiment (...) of theory that Barron proposes. (shrink)