Journal article

Publication year: 2017

Pages: 255-270

Journal: German Law Journal

Volume number: 18

Issue number: 2

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/S2071832200021945

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Abstract: 

This Article questions in what sense law in the German tradition has been—and can still be—considered a form of culture. The Article offers an overview of traditional approaches to law and culture in German Legal Theory and the Theory of Methods, and argues that the law has shifted from being perceived as culture during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to being in contrast with culture, which is considered the “other” of the law. Mediated by “legal culture,” the discourse pendulum has swung back to the notion of “Law as Culture” during the last three decades. Thomas Gutmann, the German lawyer, has fiercely challenged equating law with culture, describing it as “murky” and irrelevant. Similarly, the concept of “Law as Culture” is questioned by the provocations of “Law and Affect.” This Article claims that, irrespective of conceptual framework trends, applying the law remains a highly challenging cultural practice in terms of both fact-finding and interpreting legal norms.

Harvard Citation style: Reimer, F. (2017) Law as Culture? Culturalist Perspectives in Legal Theory and Theory of Methods, German Law Journal, 18(2), pp. 255-270. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2071832200021945

APA Citation style: Reimer, F. (2017). Law as Culture? Culturalist Perspectives in Legal Theory and Theory of Methods. German Law Journal. 18(2), 255-270. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2071832200021945