Spanning two centuries and five Nordic countries, this book questions the view that political lawyers are required for the development of a liberal political regime. It combines cross-disciplinary theory and careful empirical case studies by country experts whose regional insights are brought to bear on wider global contexts. The theory of the legal complex posits that lawyers will not simply mobilize collectively for material self-interest; instead they will organize and struggle for the limited goal of political liberalism. Constituted by a moderate state, core civil rights, and civil society freedoms, political liberalism is presented as a discrete but professionally valued good to which all lawyers can lend their support. Leading scholars claim that when one finds struggles against political repression, politics of the Legal Complex are frequently part of that struggle. One glaring omission in this research program is the Nordic region. This insightful volume provides a comprehensive account of the history and politics of lawyers of the last 200 years in the Nordic countries: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. Topping most global indexes of core civil rights, these states have been found to contain few to no visible legal complexes. Where previous studies have characterized lawyers as stewards and guardians of the law that seek to preserve its semi-autonomous nature, these legal complexes have emerged in a manner that challenges the standard narrative. This book offers rational choice and structuralist explanations for why and when lawyers mobilise collectively for political liberalism. In each country analysis, authors place lawyers in nineteenth century state transformation and emerging constitutionalism, followed by expanding democracy and the welfare state, the challenge of fascism and world war, the tensions of the Cold War, and the latter-day rights revolutions. These analyses are complemented by a comprehensive comparative introduction, and a concluding reflection on how the theory of the legal complex might be recast, making The Limits of the Legal Complex an invaluable resource for scholars and practitioners alike.
Reviews
In this tour de force, Feeley, Langford and their fellow authors question the role of lawyers as bastions of liberalism and defenders of the rule of law in Nordic countries. Does the evidence suggest that countries in this region represent deviant cases, or rather put into question general claims about the legal complex? Must -- and highly topical -- reading for legal scholars and political scientists. * David Nelken, Professor of Comparative and Transnational Law, Kings College London *
Against the backdrop of the rights revolution and the rise of adversarial legalism, the Nordic countries' history of law training as path to public administration, tradition of non-litigiousness, and resentment of American-style high-voltage constitutionalism or epic legal battles present an excellent yet seldom-explored testing ground for studying what has been termed the "legal complex". Feely and Langford have masterfully curated a high-quality, first-of-its-kind collection, combining insightful essays by country experts with integrative chapters that offer important correctives to the theory of the legal complex in light of the unique Nordic experience. The result is a major contribution to the comparative literature on the evolving role of the legal profession in advancing political liberalism and social change in stable and prosperous democracies. * Ran Hirschl, Professor of Government and Earl E. Sheffield Regents Chair in Law, University of Texas at Austin *
The Limits of the Legal Complex raises the scholarship on legal complexes to a new level of scholarly refinement. This superb combination of empirical studies on Nordic countries, and its broad, constructively critical, theoretical extensions, notably advance comparative and historical theory on the conditions under which legal complexes have, and have not, mobilized for basic legal freedoms, an open civil society and moderate state-key elements of political liberalism-since the 17th century in Europe and across the world thereafter. * Terence C. Halliday, Research Professor, American Bar Foundation, and Honorary Professor, The Australian National University *


Awards
Winner of Malcolm Feeley is recipient of the Law and Courts Section Lifetime Achievement Award.



Book Information
ISBN 9780192848413
Author Malcolm Feeley
Format Hardback
Page Count 304
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 612g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 164mm * 25mm