Allison Anna Tait

Narrative and the Origins of Law

This Essay considers how social contract narratives about the genesis and development of legal orders share certain characteristics. Using the tools of narratology developed in literary theory, we show how these social contract narratives become recognizable not only as a genre but also as a kind of legal-political super-narrative that works to legitimize legal and constitutional ordering.

Family Model and Mystical Body: Witnessing Gender through Political Metaphor in the Early Modern Nation-State

The sixteenth century in France was a time when political theorists and jurists articulated a full and rich notion of the value of constitutionalism and legal-parliamentary authority in relation to the monarch. It was also a moment to “witness” in many senses. It was a time to witness history – Henri II died in a jousting match, only to be followed by three degenerate sons who died in short succession; Catherine de Medici incited the hatred of rival factions; and thousands of Huguenots were massacred in Paris on St. Bartholomew’s Day in 1572. It was also a time of witnessing in a religious sense, as the Wars of Religion tore France apart and the powerful Catholic Ligue targeted the French Calvinists; and it was an instance when witnessing gained new associations related to a striking growth in France’s judicial infrastructure caused by the sale of new offices. By the end of the century, this tremendous political and social instability resulted in the development of a authoritarian perspective on political organization and absolutist theory came into circulation, bringing with it a significantly different sense of witnessing. During the first half of the seventeenth century, however, these two political theories vied for the right to define the terms of socio-political engagement. For women, this battle between political perspectives was especially important. Constitutionalism and absolutism each represented a distinct vision of sovereignty – the former emphasizing the need for strong judicial governance and the latter the need for a strong monarch – and both impacted whether women witnessed in a religious sense or in a legal one, as rightsholders and members of the political community.