Lacan and the Subject of Law ─ Toward a Psychoanalytic Critical Legal Theory

Lacan and the Subject of Law is both an accessible introduction to Lacanian psychoanalytic theory and a demonstration of the relevance of Jacques Lacan's influential work for the critique of legal processes and instructions. Although Lacan was a practicing analyst, the texts of his controversial Paris seminars were oriented to the constructive roles of language, of relationships, and of cultural conventions.

Here, Professor Caudill highlights the inconsistencies among Lacan's critics—that Lacan is too Freudian, or not Freudian enough; he's postmodern, or he's traditional. Caudill then goes on to argue that Lacan's account of the human subject bridges the antinomies of traditional and critical theory, mainstream and left analyses of culture, and modern and postmodern paradigms, and that Lacan's orientation is decidedly social. Lacanian theory is then applied in a series of studies of contemporary legal ideology, and religion in law and politics.

Lacan and the Subject of Law will appeal to students and scholars in social and political theory who want to understand Lacan's contribution to the study of culture, as well as to disciples and critics of Lacan interested in psychoanalytic methodology in the field of law.

David S. Caudill is professor of law and Alumni Faculty Fellow at Washington & Lee University.