Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T14:14:13.298Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Rule of Law between England and Sudan: Hay, Thompson, and Massoud

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Martin Krygier
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two significant writings, one by Douglas Hay and the other by E. P. Thompson, appeared in 1976. Both sought to explain relationships between law and social (specifically, ruling‐class) power in a manner that avoided treating law either simply as a coercive instrument of class domination (“vulgar Marxism”), or as a good for all “(liberal legalism”). They overlapped and each was influenced by the other, but they differed significantly, in substance, in tone, and in admirers. Mark Massoud sensibly and thoughtfully draws inspiration from both. This article queries, however, whether his account of the role and rule of law in Sudan manages to resolve a significant tension between Hay and Thompson. This results in a certain ambivalence in the telling, a sometimes anguished oscillation between two interpretive modes, perhaps sensibilities, represented by Hay and Thompson, each of which can lead in different directions.

Type
Review Section
Information
Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , Spring 2016 , pp. 480 - 488
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Carothers, Thomas. 2005. The Problem of Knowledge. In Promoting the Rule of Law Abroad. The Problem of Knowledge, ed., Carothers, T.. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.Google Scholar
Hay, Douglas. 1975 . Property, Authority, and the Criminal Law. In Albion's Fatal Tree: Crime and Society in Eighteenth Century England, ed., Hay, D. et al. pp. 17–63. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Hayek, Friedrich A. 1960. The Constitution of Liberty. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Krygier, Martin. 1990a. Marxism and the Rule of Law: Reflections after the Collapse of Communism. Law & Social Inquiry 15:633–63.Google Scholar
Krygier, Martin. 1990b. Marxism, Communism, and Narcissism. Law & Social Inquiry 15:707–30.Google Scholar
Krygier, Martin.. 2005. Subjects, Objects, and the Colonial Rule of Law. In Civil Passions, pp. 56–91. Melbourne: Black Inc.Google Scholar
Krygier, Martin.. 2011. Four Puzzles About the Rule of Law: Why, What, Where? And Who Cares? In Getting to the Rule of Law, Nomos No. 50, ed., Fleming, J. E., pp. 64–104. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Krygier, Martin.. 2014 . The Rule of Law after the Short Twentieth Century: Launching a Global Career. In Law, Society and Community: Essays in Honour of Roger Cotterrell, ed., Nobles, R. and Schiff, D., pp. 327–46. Farnham: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Langbein, John H. 1983. Albion's Fatal Flaws. Past & Present 98:96–120.Google Scholar
Lovejoy, Arthur O. [1936] 1964. The Great Chain of Being. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Massoud, Mark Fathi. 2013. Law's Fragile State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Merritt, Adrian 1980. The Nature and Function of Law: A Criticism of E. P. Thompson's Whigs and Hunters. British Journal of Law and Society 7:194–214.Google Scholar
Reid, John Philip. 2004. The Rule of Law. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Thompson, Edward Peter. 1975. Whigs and Hunters. Origins of the Black Act. London: Penguin.Google Scholar