The Cunning of Law
| Published date | 01 December 2014 |
| Date | 01 December 2014 |
| Author | Cristina Lafont |
| DOI | 10.1177/0964663914544205 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
The Cunning of Law:
Remarks on Brunkhorst’s
Critical Theory of Legal
Revolutions
Cristina Lafont
Northwestern University, USA
Abstract
This article provides an overview and critical analysis of Brunkhorst’s forthcoming book
Critical Theory of Legal Revolutions. First, I briefly analyze the specific way in which
Brunkhorst’s innovative approach to social evolution combines the normative and
functionalist perspectives in order to reconstruct the four great legal revolutions that led
to the formation of modern law. In the second step, I raise some critical concerns about
the basic conceptual and methodological assumptions behind Brunkhorst’s recon-
struction: a concern regarding its Eurocentrism, a concern about the methodological
distinction between evolutionary and revolutionary change – particularly the question of
where to situate counterrevolutionary ideological battles and developments and a
concern about the systematic role of religion and religious ideas in his reconstruction.
Keywords
Critical theory, functionalism, legal revolutions, social evolution
In his book Critical Theory of Legal Revolutions, Hauke Brunkhorst tells a fascinating
story about the development of modern law. This development is understood as a process
internally related to the ideal of egalitarian freedom and thus inextricable from the long
historical battle for emancipation from domination. The central claim of the book is that
the ideal of egalitarian freedom expresses itself in the form of normative constraints,
such as the legal constraints imposed by constitutional law, which are the ‘direction
Corresponding author:
Cristina Lafont, Northwestern University, 2-335 Kresge Hall, 1880 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60202, USA.
Email: clafont@northwestern.edu
Social & Legal Studies
2014, Vol. 23(4) 565–575
ªThe Author(s) 2014
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DOI: 10.1177/0964663914544205
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