This book provides the first comprehensive introductions to the erudite, eccentric, and expansive work of Pierre Legendre (1930–2023), legal philologist and historian, Professor of Law at the University of Paris 1 and Director of Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études.

Author and editor of some 30 books and three films, his oeuvre defies definition or circumscription. Having devoted his early career to the medieval glossators of Roman and Canon law before encountering Freud and the incendiary lectures of Jacques Lacan, he developed a psychoanalytic theory of law as the dogmatic structure, symbolic mainstay, and affective straightjacket of Western civilization. Focusing on the mythological foundations of law and governance, on the visual transmission of legality and the emotional capture of the subject, Legendre delivers a profound critique of the doctrines of managerial efficiency, communication, and administrative jargon that dominate the institutions of government. In this volume, ten international scholars address themselves to the many novel dimensions of Legendre’s work.

This book will be of interest to scholars and students of legal theory, jurisprudence, socio-legal studies, legal history, politics, and social science.

Katrin Becker, Dr. habil., holds a tenured position as researcher in law and culture at the University of Luxembourg and is Programme Director at the Collège International de Philosophie in Paris.

Pierre Musso is Honorary Professor at the University of Rennes 2.

Peter Goodrich is Professor of Law at the Cardozo School of Law, New York.

Serene Richards is a lecturer at NYU London.