Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Criminal Law OpinionsEdited by Bennett Capers, Sarah Deer, and Corey Rayburn Yung, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023, 306 pp., £39.99
| Published date | 01 December 2023 |
| Author | ANNA CARLINE |
| Date | 01 December 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/jols.12450 |
DOI: 10.1111/j ols.12450
BOOK REVIEW
Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Criminal Law
Opinions
Edited by Bennett Capers, Sarah Deer, and Corey Rayburn Yung,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023, 306 pp., £39.99
ANNA CARLINE
School of Law and Social Justice, University of Liverpool, Chatham Street, Liverpool, L69 7ZR, England
Email: A.Carline@liverpool.ac.uk
Feminist Judgments: RewrittenCriminal Law Opinionsis the latest in a series of books that rewrite
seminal legal judgments from feminist perspectives. Originating in Canada, the feminist judg-
ment project has been taken up in many other jurisdictions including the United States (US),
which is the scene for the current book. The first in the series involved a rewriting of US Supreme
Court opinions,1and it was considered that ‘[a] book of reimagined feminist court opinions related
to criminal law seemed the obvious next step’ (p. 1). The feminist judgment project is now a well-
established field of scholarship, influencing teaching and research methodologies, and has been
utilized in other strands of law,such children’s rights.2However, the aim is for the project to have
a wider impact. As Rosemary Hunter has commented, the feminist judges ‘want their judgments
to be taken seriously. They want activists, lawyers and judges to be influenced by their reason-
ing and so, indirectly, to change the law or at least to contribute to its development.’3This is a
vital endeavour, the importance of which is only increasing over time, as the hard-fought rights
of women – along with those of other marginalized groups – seem to be under attack, in the US
and elsewhere.
The methodology adopted in the feminist judgment project is now quite well known, and the
book adopts a similar format to other edited collections.4This involves a rewrittenopinion, bound
by the same conventions and precedents as the original judgment, accompanied by a commen-
tary that engages with the wider legal and social context, the original judgment, and the rewritten
feminist opinion. This book comprises 14 opinions, and the editors note in their introduction that
these are not limited to what might be considered to be the primary focus of feminist criminal law
interventions, such as sexual and gender-based violence, but encompass cases that do not have
1K. M. Stanchi et al. (eds), Feminist Judgments: RewrittenOpinionsof the United States Supreme Court (2016).
2H. Stalford et al. (eds), Rewriting Children’s Rights Judgments: From AcademicVision to New Practice (2017).
3R. Hunter, ‘The Power of FeministJudgments?’ (2012) 20 Feminist Legal Studies 135, at 137.
4See for example R. Hunter et al. (eds), Feminist Judgments: From Theory to Practice (2010).
© 2023 The Author.Journal of Law and Society © 2023 Cardiff University Law School.
J. Law Soc. 2023;50:589–593. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jols 589
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting