Law

See also Anarchism & Criminology

Amster, Randall (2004). “Breaking the Law: Anti-authoritarian Visions of Crime and Justice.” The New Formulation 2.2.

– – – (2003) “Restoring (Dis)order: Sanctions, Resolutions, and ‘Social Control’ in Anarchist Communities.” Contemporary Justice Review 6.1: 9-24.

Armand, E. [Ernest Juin] (1946). “Du ‘droit’ anarchiste.” L’Unique 13: ??-??.

– – – (1946). “Le ‘droit’ anarchiste.” L’Unique 14: ??-??.

Baars, Grietje (2011). “‘Reform or Revolution?’ Polanyian Versus Marxian Perspectives on the Regulation of the Economic.” Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly 62.4: 415-431.

  • <– Rosa Luxembourg’s 1900 pamphlet “Reform or Revolution,” which critiqued reformist political strategy, has relevance to, and finds echoes in today’s debates on the possibility and desirability of using law to protect society from the market’s negative effects. It also summed up the nineteenth-century “Polanyian” reformist and Marxist “revolutionary” perspectives. Polanyi argued that “the economic” must be “embedded” in the social by means of legal regulation, an argument he illustrates with the help of the “Speenhamland” example. Marx, while acknowledging the role of the legal struggle as part of class struggle, concludes that ultimately “right can never be higher than the economic structure of society”. Marxist legal theorist Pashukanis developed this position in his “commodity form theory of law” which points to the structural impossibility of law’s regulation of capitalism. While contemporary “Polanyist” Ruggie again asserts that legal and soft law “global governance” regimes can control capitalism’s main instrument, the corporation, Shamir contra Ruggie argues that the “moralisation of markets” through corporate social responsibility (CSR) leads to the “marketisation of morality” or a change in what we perceive law to be (and who has legitimate authority to regulate) rather than a “taming” of markets. Following Shamir, I add that this corporate-led global governance hastens the collapse of capitalism, and confirms the inevitability of revolution and the subsequent creation of a law-free society.

Bakan, Joel. The Corporation.

Baldelli, Giovanni (1971). “Wrongs and Reparations.” Social Anarchism. Chicago: Aldine, Atherton. 144-160.

  • <– This is the 8th chapter of Baldelli’s original (and somewhat idiosyncratic) treatment of anarchist theory, in which he describes a post-revolutionary system of justice which is distressingly similar to the pre-revolutionary system in appearance, featuring “assessors of torts” (152) and “approver[s]” of judicial decisions (154), potentially backed by force (but without a written code of law [151-52]). The suggestion of “preventors” of harmful acts (counselors of a sort) is interesting, though (152).

Black, Bob (2015). Justice, Primitive and Modern: Dispute Resolution in Anarchist and State Societies.

  • <– Highly dismissive of all academic anarchist treatments of the subject (Ferrell, Tifft, etc.). Note: “A much shorter, much different version of this article, under the title ‘Justice: Primitive and Modern,’ was delivered as a speech at a B.A.S.T.A.R.D. Conference in Berkeley, California. Some years later, a closer version was delivered as a speech at the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, under the auspices of its Philosophy Department, in Manila, Philippines on August 14, 2015. Among the others who have spoken at that site (the Thomas Aquinas Research Center) was then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham ‘Killary’ Clinton. This version is thoroughly revised, greatly expanded, and referenced. The material on Restorative Justice is new.”

Borovoy, Alexei (1918). “Anarchism and Law.”

Chambost, Sophie (2004). Proudhon et la norme: pensée juridique d’un anarchiste. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes.

  • <– trans: Proudhon and the Norm: The Juridical Thought of an Anarchist.

Cohen, Amy J. (2013) “On Being Anti-Imperial: Consensus Building, Anarchism, and ADR.” Law, Culture and the Humanities 9.2: 243­–260.

  • <– Abstract: “This article examines the reach and possible limits of ‘imperial legality’ by comparing two kinds of practices intended to enable actors to resolve conflicts and make collective decisions without the force of sovereign impositions: contemporary anarchism, which has become an influential part of the anti-neoliberal globalization movement, on the one hand, and professional consensus building, which is rapidly emerging as part of the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) movement, on the other hand. Although both sets of practices are intensely focused on generating consensus, this comparison highlights the different conceptions of process that they employ. Professional consensus building’s capacity to render itself “merely” procedure – a means to further another set of ends – makes it remarkably easy to scale up to imperial proportions. By contrast, anarchism’s vision of process aspires to collapse distinctions between means and ends, refuses to constrain anyone who does not participate, and seeks transformation deep in the minutia of selves, social practices, and political relations. As a result, it is much more recalcitrant – and, perhaps more to the point, much less desirable – than ADR to redirect for imperial ends. The article thus explores how consensual processes offer their subjects an ideal of legality that is alternatively amenable or hostile to imperial ambitions.”

Cornelissen, Christian (1933). “Justicia y policía en una sociedad comunista libertaria. El ‘derecho’ comunista libertario.” El comunismo libertario y el regimen de transición. Trans. Eloy Muñiz. Valencia: Biblioteca Orto. 69-??.

  • <– A few highlights: “In a communist future, we will defend the principles of communal property in the same way that today’s society defends private property.” “In a libertarian communist society, a new judicial system must be created, a system based mainly on the principle of juries. In spite of all their current defects, the juries represent public opinion and the new morality, both in constant evolution, with greater fidelity than the career judges.”

Ferrell, Jeff (1998). “Against the Law: Anarchist Criminology.” Social Anarchism 25: ??-??.

Fox, Dennis 2011. “Anarchism, Psychology, and Law”. On-site class through Free School University at Occupy Boston.

– – – (2006) “Law, Justice, and Reconciliation in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Comments and Questions from a Visiting Critical Psychologist.” Birzeit Legal Encounter, Ramallah.

– – – (2004) “Interview: Antiauthoritarianism, Critical Psychology, Law, and More.” Babylonia.

– – – (2001) “A Critical-Psychology Approach to Law’s Legitimacy” in Legal Studies Forum, 25, 519-538.

– – – (1999) “Psycholegal Scholarship’s Contribution to False Consciousness About Injustice.” Law and Human Behavior 23:9-30.

– – – (1993) “The Autonomy-Community Balance and the Equity-Law Distinction: Anarchy’s Task for Psychological Jurisprudence” in Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 11, 97-109.

– – – (1993) “Where’s the Proof that Law is a Good Thing?” in Law and Human Behavior 17:257-258.

– – – and Arrigo, Bruce (2009) “Psychology and the Law: The Crime of Policy and the Search for Justice” in Critical Psychology: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Ed. Dennis Fox, Isaac Prilleltensky, and Stephanie Austin. London: Sage Publications. 159-175.

Godwin, William (1796). Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, and Its Influence on Morals and Happiness. London.

  • <–esp. Vol. II, Book VII (“Of Crimes and Punishments”).

Gelderloos, Peter (2010). “The Justice Trap: Law and the Disempowerment of Society.” Social Anarchism 44: 42-61, 93.

Halling, Matt (2009) “A Law of No Gods, No Masters – Developing and Defending a Participatory Legal System.” Hastings Int’l & Comp. L. Rev. 32: 237-269.

  • <– Influenced by Michael Albert’s “parecon” (participatory economics) model: “Part I of this note develops a legal vision for parsociety: participatory law or ‘parlaw.’ Part II will then examine parlaw’s remarkable similarity to existing international law. Finally, Part III will analyze a threshold question raised by parlaw: why would individuals obey laws if there is no state demanding compliance? In order to answer the threshold question, Part III will look to international treaty compliance research to estimate if and why people would comply with parlaw.”

Heckert, Jamie (2011) “On Anarchism: An Interview with Judith Butler” in Heckert, J and Cleminson, R (eds) Anarchism & Sexuality: Ethics, Relationships and Power. Abingdon: Routledge.

Holterman, Thom & van Maarseveen, Henc (eds) (1980). Law in Anarchism. Rotterdam: Erasmus University.

  • <– Conference proceedings including 9 papers and introduction. Reprinted (1984). Law and Anarchism. Montréal: Black Rose Books.

Johnson, Charles (2007). “A Place for Positive Law: A Contribution to Anarchist Legal Theory.”

Kropotkin, Peter (1902). Organised Vengeance, Called “Justice.” London: “Freedom” Office.

– – – (1886). Law and Authority: An Anarchist Essay. London: International Publishing Co.

– – – (1885). “Les droits politiques.” Paroles d’un révolté. Paris: C. Marpon et E. Flammarion, éditeurs.

Langford, Peter (2014). “Hans Kelsen’s God and the State: The Theory of Positive Law as Methodological Anarchism.” Soft Power 1.2: 149-168.

Loizidou, Elena (2018). “Love, Law, Anarchism.” Law and Philosophy: Critical Intersections. Ed. Thanos Zartaloudis. London, UK: Rowman and Littlefield. ??-??.

– – – (2018). “What Is Law?” The Anarchist Imagination: Anarchism Encounters the Humanities and Social Sciences. Ed. Carl Levy and Saul Newman. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. 181-193.

López Santamaría, Jesús (2008). “Anarquismo español y derechos humanos.” Studia historica. Historia contemporánea 26: 19-52.

  • <– Abstract (edited): “If the proverbial aversion to law on the part of the libertarian world is evident, a less complex attack led by governmental and non-anarchist media has constructed the theme of ‘anti-law’ to counter the libertarian idea of a new society with a chaotic image of a system without Law. This paper questions both the ideological stereotype of anarchism as allergic to everything that refers to the field of Law as well as to this biased construction of ‘anti-Law.’ It refutes both of these extreme interpretations, on the one hand, on the basis of the theoretical renovation of anarchism and the updating of the new theoretical arguments that since the end of the last century have thrown anarchists into turmoil; and on the other, retrieving and sequencing the organic textual production of the anarchists in order to reveal the recurrent intervention of Spanish anarchists in the struggle for human rights. This is of special importance, since as long as anarchists adopt an attitude of dubious acceptance of these facts, it will not be surprising to see that specialists foreign to anarchism ignore such issues altogether.”

Mella, Ricardo (1926). “Inutilidad de las leyes.” Ideario. Gijón: Impr. “La Victoria.” 147-148.

Mieville, China (2004) “The Commodity-Form Theory of International Law: An Introduction” in Leiden Journal of International Law 17:271-302.

  • <– Marxist legal theory with anarchist applications?

Newman, Saul (2012). “Anarchism and Law: Towards a Post-anarchist Ethics of Disobedience.” Griffith Law Review 21.2: 307-329.

  • <–Abstract: “This article uses the political philosophy of anarchism to critically interrogate the limits of legal authority, showing that the law’s claim to unconditional obedience ultimately is unjustified. Here I turn to Walter Benjamin to unmask the violent foundations of legal authority, and to explore critical and radical responses to this – through Georges Sorel’s notion of the ‘proletarian general strike’, and through Benjamin’s related notion of ‘divine violence’, both of which I interpret in a distinctly anarchist way. However, I argue that this deconstruction of the ontological foundations of the law can be turned back on anarchism itself. Anarchism bases its critique of political and legal authority on a kind of organic substratum, one that is scientifically verifiable and morally legitimate, providing the immanent ground for communal relations beyond the law. As an alternative to this foundationalist approach, I propose what might be called an ontological anarchism, which unsettles all established orders. I develop from this an anarchist or, more precisely, post-anarchist, political and ethical project involving an ongoing contestation of legal authority and the coercive practices of state power.”

Pepinsky, Harold E. (1978). “Communist Anarchism as an Alternative to the Rule of Criminal Law.” Contemporary Crises 2: 315-334.

  • <– Proposes that criminal law suffers from an internal contradiction between its goals of “swiftness,” “sureness,” and “severity”: “Make criminal justice functionaries apply the law more swiftly, and the capacity to apply the law surely (without error) to every crime will grow more remote. The more severe the sanction to be imposed, the greater the complexity of review of that imposition […] The more complex the review of the imposition of a sanction, the longer the delay in imposing the sanction. […] Swiftness, sureness and severity are mutually exclusive.”

Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. (1952). “Social Sanctions.” Structure and Function In Primitive Society: Essays and Addresses. London: Cohen & West. 205-211.

Rivaya García, Benjamín (2018). Filosofía anarquista del Derecho: Un estudio de la idea. Valencia: Tirant lo Blanch.

– – – (2007). “Ni Dios, ni Amo, ni Ley: la ideología jurídica del anarquismo español.” Historia de los derechos fundamentales. Ed. Francisco Javier Ansuátegui Roig, José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, Gregorio Peces-Barba Martínez, Eusebio Fernández García. 3.1: 885-932.

– – – (2001). “Anarquismo y Derecho.” Revista de estudios políticos 112: 77-108.

Slatter, John (1996). “P.A. Kropotkin on Legality and Ethics.” Studies in East European Thought 48.2-4: 255-276.

Smith, Andrea (2011) “Against the Law: Indigenous Feminism and the Nation-State.” Affinities: A Journal of Radical Theory, Culture, and Action, 5(1).

Springer, Simon (2013). “Violent accumulation: a postanarchist critique of property, dispossession, and the state of exception in neoliberalizing Cambodia.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 103.3: 608–626.

Tifft, Larry and Dennis Sullivan (1980). The Struggle to be Human: Crime, Criminology, and Anarchism Orkney, UK: Cienfuegos Press.

Wieck, David (1978). “Anarchist Justice.” Anarchism: Nomos XIX. Ed. J. Roland Pennock, & John W. Chapman. New York: New York University Press. 215-236.

  • <– Critique of Murray Rothbard’s laissez-faire capitalist vision of dispute resolution: “Rothbard recognizes no third-party, or what more extendedly might be called social, interests as legally and judicially relevant to an allegation of aggression. His severe individualism requires a two-party model, and the consequences are considerable.”

Collections

(2013). Droit et anarchie: Actes de la Journée d’études de l’Institut d’études de droit public (IEDP) du 23 novembre 2012. Ed. Chloé Bertrand, Raphaël Brett, Flore Pulliero and Noé Wagener. Paris: L’Harmattan.

  • Avant-propos, Florence Poirat et Patrick JacobLe droit, l’anarchie et les juristes. Introduction, Noé Wagener
    CHAPITRE 1er : Théoriciens anarchistes du droit
    Les théories des contrats de Pierre-Joseph Proudhon : anarchie, fédéralisme et mutuellisme, Irène Pereira
    « De quel droit ? », la recherche du fondement du droit par Kropotkine, Aude Zaradny
    L’ambivalence féconde du rapport entre l’ « Unique » et le droit chez Stirner, Philippe Hoyer
    CHAPITRE 2 : Doctrine juridique anarchiste ?
    Léon Duguit, juriste reconnu, anarchiste qui s’ignore ?, Anna Neyrat
    La théorie réaliste de l’interprétation est-elle une théorie anarchiste ?, Charles-Édouard Sénac
    CHAPITRE 3 : Le droit en lutte contre l’anarchie
    L’anarchiste, un délinquant « hors norme », Romain Gauthier
    Le phénomène des rave parties, exemple du droit en lutte contre l’anarchie, Édouard Bédarrides
    CHAPITRE 4 : La part d’anarchie dans le droit
    Le droit international, mythique anarchie ?, Bérénice Schramm
    Les droits fondamentaux dans l’ordre juridique international : la fin du droit anarchique ou nouvelle anarchie juridique, Catherine Le Bris
    Droit d’auteur et anarchie : postérité de la pensée de Pierre-joseph Proudhon sur le droit d’auteur, Philippe Mouron
    Summum jus, summa anarchia ? Conclusions, Emmanuel Dockès

Special journal issues

(2016). Réfractions 37: “La justice… hors la loi”

  • DOSSIER- Droit et anarchie, Emmanuel Dockès
    – William Godwin, justice versus esprit des lois, Alain Thévenet
    – L’institution des règles, Annick Stevens
    – Sous les pavés la plage, Otis Tarda
    – L’acte de juger et l’idée de droit social libertaire, Édouard Jourdain
    – Accueillir Novatore ? Erwan Sommerer
    – Le système judiciaire au Rojava, Janet Biehl
    – D’autres pratiques de justice dans les communautés indigènes au Mexique, trad. Annick Stevens
    – Espagne 1936-1939, Bernard Hennequin
    TRANSVERSALE
    – Drôles de méthodes pour résoudre des conflits, Marianne Enckell
    – Du délit de sale gueule, Jacques van Helden
    ANARCHIVES
    Extrait de L’Éthique, Pierre Kropotkine
    L’Organisation de la Vindicte appelée Justice, Pierre Kropotkine
    LES LIVRES, LES REVUES, ETC.

(2012). De AS 179: “Anarchisme en Recht”

  • Thom Holterman | HET ANARCHISME ALS BRON: VAN VRIJHEIDSLIEVENDE IDEEËN | Anarchisme en Recht (1) | 2Hans Ramaer | IN MEMORIAM ERIC BROUWER (1958-2012) | 4
    Thom Holterman | OOK ANARCHISTEN REGELEN ZAKEN DOOR MIDDEL VAN PROCEDURES | Anarchisme en Recht (2) | 7
    Thom Holterman | ANTROPOLOGISCH ONDERZOEK BIEDT INZICHT IN RECHTSOPVATTINGEN | Anarchisme en Recht (3) | 14
    Thom Holterman | STAATSWIL EN RECHT VERSCHILLEN VAN ELKAAR | Anarchisme en Recht (4) | 20
    Thom Holterman | DE SAMENLEVING VORMT DE GRONDSLAG VAN RECHTSREGELS | Anarchisme en Recht (5) | 27
    Thom Holterman | HET KRITISCH EN CONSTRUCTIEF POTENTIEEL VAN HET ANARCHISME | Anarchisme en Recht (6) | 31
    Arie Hazekamp | JURRIE ZUIDEMA OVERLEDEN (1919-2012) | 37
    André de Raaij | HET VLOOIENPARK | Dubbele boterham met kaas 4 | 38
    Boudewijn Chorus | TEGEN DE (RECHTS)STAAT? | Sterke Verhalen 11 | 39
    Martin Smit | IN MEMORIAM JACQUES GIELE (1942-2012) | 43
    André de Raaij | REACTIES EN DISCUSSIES | Crisisbericht | 44
    Thom Holterman | MACHT EN EMANCIPATIE: EEN STRIJD | Uit het land van Proudhon 19 | 45
    Hans Ramaer | DWANGARBEID | Hard Rain 18 | 48
    Rymke Wiersma e.a. | BOEKBESPREKINGEN | 50

(2000). Réfractions 6: “De quel droit?”

  • PrésentationDroit et anarchie
    – Enrico Ferri, L’anarchisme : entre critique du droit et aspiration à la justice
    – Annick Stevens Droit, nature et organisation politique d’après Aristote
    – Jean-Louis Boireau Godwin et la critique radicale du droit
    – Fawzia Tobgui De l’anarchisme au fédéralisme, articulation entre droit et état dans le système politique de Proudhon
    – Marco Cossuta, Une comparaison entre Stirner et Bakounine. Réflexions sur le droit et l’anarchisme
    – Alain Perrinjaquet Idéal libertaire et idée de droit naturel
    – Ronald Creagh, Au-delà du droit
    Des luttes
    – Larry Portis, Droit civique et action sociale aux états-Unis. Le cas des IWW
    – Jean-Manuel Traimond Naissance du droit à Christiania
    – Jean-Jacques Gandini Eléments d’introduction à Droit paysan
    – Charte du Droit Paysan
    – Alain Gil L’anarchosyndicalisme : quel usage du droit face aux luttes sociales ?
    Débat
    – Roland Breton Le droit des peuple
    Transversale
    – Pierre-Jean Dessertine Quand le tissu social se déchire : essai d’élucidation d’une nouvelle forme de violence
    Colloque

(1965). Anarchy 57: “Law”

  • Penny Davies | Jurisprudence: the jurists’ game | 321Tony Gibson | Anarchism and crime | 328
    Marshall Colman | Against the law | 331