Critical Legal Studies and

Critical Legal Studies  1977 – University of Wisconsin – Madison  Noted CLS theorists: Roberto Mangabeira Unger, Robert W. Gordon, Morton J. Horwitz, Duncan Kennedy, and Catharine A. MacKinnon.  British CLS movement:  grew as part of a number of conferences, especially the Critical Legal Conference and the National Critical Lawyers Group

Theoretical Roots  Critical Marxism (Lukacs, Gramsci, Sartre) and the Frankfurt School (Horkheimer and Marcuse)  Legal Realism  Deconstructionism  Derrida (Literary Theory)  Post-structuralism  Foucault (History)

The Vietnam War

Civil Rights Movement

Feminism/Women’s Liberation

May 1968

Postmodernism

Where is the Radical Left today?

 American  Critical Race Theorist  Law Professor  Black  Woman

 Feminist  Law Professor  White  Mother

 Man  Critical Legal Studies Theorist (for our purposes)  Law Professor  Latin-American

“I just don’t remember it as being that bad”

Sense of empowerment defines relation to law.

Rights are one among many values that we hold dear.

or

Why we should not pigeonhole.

Source de : contrôle/limite Ou protection/liberté

Vie en Société Tension entre l’individu et la collectivité

Libéralisme  La Société : Un ensemble de citoyens porteurs de droits

Le rôle des droits Inutilité vs. « Empowerment »

Les droits, ces relations sociales

La grande réconciliation…  Unger & Nedelsky : Interdependence & contextualisation  Williams & Nedelsky : Affirmation des droits comme source de justice

 What does Williams’ story about renting and apartment in New York tell us about image and relationships? How does this shed light on her critique of CLS? What can Nedelsky’s argument bring to this picture?  Are rights in the U.S. and rights in Canada fundamentally different as Nedelsky suggests, or does the difference lie in how we conceive of them? What does culture have to do with the way we conceive of rights?  Williams writes that " These differences in experience between blacks and whites [...] are differences firmly rooted in race, and in the unconsciousness of racism. It is only in acknowledging this difference, however, that one can fully appreciate the underlying common ground of the radical left and the historically oppressed: the desire to heal a profound existential disillusionment." Do you agree? Has there generally been a disconnect between the radical left's quest for social reform and the plight of the historically disempowered?

Alternative Social Charter  Solution aux problèmes de discrimination systèmique  Objectif: Permettre à tous les citoyens Canadien de participer pleinement et également à la société et d’être traîté avec respect et dignité  Dialogue de « democratic accountability »: Création d’un tribunal dont la jurisdiction serait les plaintes d’infractions systémiques