Document Type
Book Note
Abstract
WHILE THERE HAS BEEN AMPLE SCHOLARSHIP devoted to examining the legal assumptions, reasons, and analyses underlying judicial decision-making, the narrative aspect of judicial decision-making remains an area less often examined. Drawing on the increasingly popular law and literature movement, in Creating Legal Worlds: Story and Style in a Culture of Argument, Greig Henderson presents the provocative argument that narrative is crucial to legal decision-making. Through the exploration of a number of leading cases from Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, Henderson seeks to establish that the rhetoric of storytelling carries as much argumentative weight as the formal logic of legal distinctions and classifications. Henderson’s book is divided into seven short chapters, each of which draws on leading cases from Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. However, Henderson repeatedly returns to a few key cases that serve as ongoing examples of judgments as narratives. By examining jurisprudence from different countries, Henderson’s book easily maintains relevance across jurisdictional boundaries. Further, given its unique interdisciplinary focus, Creating Legal Worlds has an audience that clearly transcends the legal community.
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Citation Information
Devon, Rachel.
"Book Note: Creating Legal Worlds: Story And Style In A Culture Of Argument, by Greig Henderson."
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
53.3 (2016)
: 1121-1123.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.60082/2817-5069.3055
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ohlj/vol53/iss3/19